Promoter Eddie Hearn expects Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk to be rescheduled for April or May after Fury’s cut heals up from his sparring accident on Friday. Fury had 15 stitches used to close up the cut over his right eye after being accidentally elbowed during sparring.
Cause of the Cut
The leaked video of the accident shows Fury grabbing his sparring partner and holding him around the knock with his left arm while nailing him with repeated right hands. The sparring fired back an elbow that caught Fury in the eye.
Whether the accident would have happened if Fury wasn’t holding and hitting is unknown. He was clearly mauling the sparring partner and there to be hit.
Hearn says WBC heavyweight champion Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) was pushing it hard in training camp, training with six different southpaw sparring partners, and was serious about this fight.
“You saw the sparring partners they brought out there. They weren’t messing around,” said Eddie Hearn to the media about the guys Tyson Fury had in his camp to help him train for his now postponed undisputed fight against Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia.
“They had six or seven southpaws out there. I think he was gearing up for a great fight, a tough fight. We shouldn’t talk like, ‘That’s the end of that one because I’m sure they’re going to work as hard as they can to reschedule as soon as possible,” said Hearn about Team Fury.
Reschedule Plans
“It’s not my show, but I don’t think so,” said Hearn when asked if Usyk would use Filip Hrgovic as a replacement opponent. “I don’t know if Hrgovic is in camp. He didn’t have a fight scheduled, but if he’s offered a huge amount of money, he might take it.
“I just feel like if Fury is going to be ready by April or May, I don’t see how Usyk would fight Hrgovic in February and then be ready again for April or May.
“When this happens, you’ve got to take a deep breath, go in another room and cry a little bit, and say, ‘Why do I work in boxing?’ Then you got to go, ‘Now, we’re going to deal with this.’ So sometimes 24 hours is a good thing to realign your thoughts and decide what’s best,” said Hearn.
