When he was set to face Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury announced that he was bringing in Josh Taylor, the WBO super-lightweight champion, as a sparring partner.
Taylor was the former undisputed champion of the division, but vacated three of his titles last year as he aimed to rematch Jack Catterall, who most believe won their first fight.
However, this weekend it was announced that ‘The Tartan Tornado’ would instead take on former unified lightweight champion, Teofimo Lopez, on June 10 in New York.
Many fans thought Fury was joking when he said he would enlist the help of the 140lb champ, playing on the fact that he considered Usyk too small to compete with him.
But, in a resurfaced clip, we can see how he might be using Taylor in training. Footage from ES NEWS from around two years ago shows Fury playing punching bag as the 32-year-old whips body shots into him.
Whilst Taylor was initially set to help prepare Fury for Usyk, it seems that the fight is now dead in the water and that the Ukrainian will now instead face his WBA mandatory challenger, Daniel Dubois.
Meanwhile, Fury is left without an opponent, but will still have benefited from preparing to fight smaller men, which may be one of his few weaknesses after struggling against Steve Cunningham in the past.
Now, the WBC heavyweight king must seek a new opponent, and reportedly made an approach to Anthony Joshua’s team, following “AJ’s” uninspiring win over Jermaine Franklin.
However, Joshua has since spoke out and claimed that he will not fight until December, leaving Fury’s fans questioning who could possibly be next for the lineal champion.