Tyson Fury will not be fighting anyone for a while but that didn’t stop him threatening to knock out the teeth of Oleksandr Usyk’s manager.
With a little over two weeks to go to the much-awaited undisputed fight on February 17, Fury suffered a cut in sparring which means it has had to be postponed.
The new date for the first four-belt fight in 25 years in May 18 but there has been plenty of back and forth between camps in the wake of the news.
First to fire shots was Egas Limas, Usyk’s manager. In an interview with Ring TV he reacted to the news by saying that “Tyson Fury is a f****ng coward who will do anything not to face Usyk, and he asked his bit*h to hit him with a frying pan in his brow.”
In an explosive interview on the MMA Fight Hour, Turki Alalshikh, Fury, Klimas and Usyk all appeared to have their say, with Fury quick to defend himself and his wife.
“Egis, never call me a coward again. I’ve had 35 professional fights. I’ve been boxing for 18 years of my life. I’ve climbed off the canvas 10 times, off the biggest punchers in history to win. Never a coward. Never backed down from any man in my life. And if anybody calls my wife a bit*h I will take his teeth out.”
“How can you call me a coward? You’ve never had a fight in your life.”
Egis did say that he had never referred to Fury’s wife as such, but refused the opportunity to apologise and said he still felt the same then signed off by adding a warning for Fury.
“May 18 is going to be finite.”
Fury said just ahead of the postponement news that these days he is more interested in fighting for money than legacy, but either way, he will need his eye to heal, and heal well, before he is back in the ring.