The boxing world has just about recovered from last month’s devastating postponement of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk, due to ‘The Gypsy King’ suffering a cut in sparring.
Originally scheduled for February 17th, the historic undisputed heavyweight world title clash between Fury and Usyk – the first such bout in a quarter of a century – has now been pushed back to mid May.
Croatian heavyweight Agron Smakici was soon revealed to be the man responsible for maiming Fury, and according to him the incident stemmed from the Brit deploying “dirty tactics” as the pair sparred.
In an interview with Talksport today, Smakici also claimed that it was a punch that did the damage, not an elbow.
“It was good sparring, like all days before that. He put some fire in it with bad talking and some dirty tricks.
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“That brings the heat, then I gave 100% and the injury happened.
“He said some things and he put my head down.
“I’m 100% sure it was my fist. After the cut, he never said it was an elbow or anything like that.
“The difference between an elbow and the fist with the gloves is huge. You would feel the elbow, it’s like a hammer.
“Maybe it slipped to the elbow because he was pulling my head forward, but it wasn’t on purpose.
“It took a few seconds for him to realise – he didn’t even know that he was cut.”
“I ain’t going nowhere” – @Tyson_Fury
Usyk x2 👑
AJ x2 🇬🇧
Ngannou x2 😤 #FuryUsyk | May 18 | #RiyadhSeason pic.twitter.com/Un8XLrQWHf— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) February 7, 2024
Smakici’s record as a professional stands at 20-2, though there are little in the way of impressive victories and it would certainly be concerning if a fighter of Fury’s standing felt the need to resort to underhanded tactics whilst sparring him.
After cutting Fury and making comments like he has, it is unlikely the Croat will be asked back to help the WBC world champion prepare for his new date with Usyk.
That said, there are some who believe that even May 18th could even be too soon for Fury, so gruesome was the wound.
