Usyk unhappy with ring canvas ahead of heavyweight title bout

Fight week always brings about a few little gems, final nuggets that fans can get their hands on to make their final predictions about the upcoming bout. Much more so when we are talking about the undisputed heavyweight championship.

Wednesday’s open workout day gave us a few head-scratching moments, such as Tyson Fury doing a pad session from the southpaw stance, leading everyone to wonder if he was planning on using that in his arsenal to counter Oleksandr Usyk.

The questions got even more jumbled when Usyk followed on with a pad session of his own, but from an orthodox stance. Will he counter the counter? Or is he just playing mind games with the Gypsy King? So much to ponder.

But then, in yet another twist in this tale, Sky Sports revealed that team Usyk has complained about the ring canvas that was used during the workout.

Reportedly, Usyk was particularly unhappy with a seam that joins the canvas sections together. The canvas used was identical to the one that will be used on fight night and a member of Usyk’s team said that they are worried that it could be a trip hazard.

Sky Sports reporter Ben Ransom spoke to British heavyweight Frazer Clarke, who said, “I’m really intrigued, I was in that ring last night before anybody got in there and didn’t notice anything. Of course like every boxer, I was in the ring and did a bit of shadow boxing and didn’t notice anything. I’m really intrigued as to what it is all about. Could it be mind games? Possibly, but I doubt it. We’re in neutral territory here, there’s no advantage for Tyson or for Usyk.”

Clarke is in Saudi Arabia as part of Sky Sports’ commentating crew. The Ring of Fire event will see the heavyweight titles be unified for the first time in the four belt era, and the first heavyweight undisputed champion of the 21st century will emerge from the bout. Not since Lennox Lewis became undisputed in 1999 by beating Evander Holyfield have all of the belts been in the hands of one fighter.