February’s highly anticipated heavyweight clash between champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is OFF … after The Gypsy King suffered a deep cut above his eye, forcing him to pull out of the fight.
“I am absolutely devastated after preparing for this fight for so long and being in such superb condition. I feel bad for everyone involved in this huge event and I will work diligently towards the rescheduled date once the eye has healed,” Fury said.
Tyson continued, even saying sorry to Oleksandr and his people.
“I can only apologize to everyone affected including my own team, Team Usyk, the undercard fighters, partners, and fans as well as our hosts and my friends in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
It’s especially a bummer for Fury ’cause he’d been training so hard for the fight … and had his body looking better than it has in years. In fact, he’s noticeably leaner now than when he fought Francis Ngannou in October 2023.
If you’re a boxing fan, there’s a good chance you were pumped for the upcoming bout, originally scheduled to go down on February 17 in Saudi Arabia … until this morning’s sparring sesh.
The deep cut is very close to where Fury was split open while fighting Otto Wallin in 2019 … nearly forcing that fight to be stopped. It’s unclear if that played a part in today’s cut … as scar tissue can make a fighter more apt to sustaining cuts.
A rep for Fury said the eye required immediate medical attention, including stitches, to close up the wound.
It’s unclear how long Tyson will need to heal up … but several reports indicate Usyk may not want to wait, and will instead seek out another opponent to step in on short notice.
Here’s hoping the two champions fight sometime, somewhere … even if we now have to wait just a bit longer.
