Tyson Fury’s undisputed showdown with Oleksandr Usyk should have taken place on Saturday night before the ‘Gypsy King’ suffered a cut in sparring, but one of the Ukrainian’s coaches is still doubting the legitimacy of the injury.
The two men were due to do battle for all four heavyweight titles in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but it has now been pushed back until May 18.
There have been plenty of conspiracy theories in the boxing world since news broke of Fury’s cut earlier this month, and Sergey Lapin, one of Usyk’s coaches, is the latest to offer his thoughts.
Speaking to Fruity Slots, he thinks it is impossible that the cut could have happened in sparring, and believes the postponement came due to the Brit having a poor camp.
“There were rumours Fury’s preparations were not going to plan and then promoter Alex Krassyuk called me to say Fury’s cut, the circumstances are more than suspicious.
“In this modern era, with all the advanced and protective head guards available to top level fighters, as well as the big gloves used in sparring, it seems impossible to me that he sustained such an injury in sparring.
“It’s my instinct that something suspicious happened, maybe because Fury wasn’t ready to fight. Maybe he was dropped heavily in sparring and they needed to buy themselves more time.
“But are we really surprised that Tyson Fury continues to run from Usyk? Are we really surprised that Fury has found another way to avoid the fight? This is nothing new.”
While some fans still remain sceptical about the fight happening, Saudi chief Turki Alalshikh has put precautions in place to try and stop that, stating that if either fighter withdraws from the bout on May 18, they must pay a $10 million penalty.