The co-promoter of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 34-0-1 (24) has hit out at critics who have questioned the veracity of his boxer’s injury.
The 35-year-old Brit suffered a cut over his right eye in sparring last week that forced his unification bout with WBA, WBO, IBF and Ring Magazine champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14) to be pushed back from February 17 to May 18.
Video of the sparring incident that caused the injury – an accidental elbow from sparring partner Agron Smakici – has been published online and since then the rumour mill has been in overdrive with social media awash with unsubstantiated rumour scuttlebutt.
Frank Warren has implored fans and pundits to stick to the facts, adding that his boxer was ready for the fight and will be ready again for the rescheduled date.
“Tyson wants [the fight]. Some of the stuff that’s been going out, I’ve never heard anything like it,” Warren said to the BBC.
“I don’t understand how these people get living out of this game. Has Tyson got make-believe stiches in his eye? What they’re saying is libellous and scandalous.”
The Queensberry Promotions boss added: “It’s like some kind of cult against him.”
Fury was in camp in Saudi Arabia where the fight was to be help when his sparring mishap occurred. He will now return to his family in the United Kingdom while his eye heals as he waits to head back into training camp.
“He’ll want to be with his family,” Warren said. “He can’t continue training as such. He can tick over. He can get on the bike and keep well but when you’re training for a fight you’re training to reach your ultimate best, your peak.
“Now he has to wind down and set everything back in motion to get himself up and ready and make sure he’s at his best for 18 May.”
Meanwhile, Fury has clapped back at critics who have called for his retirement. In response, Fury says he still have five more fights left in him, including a bout against longtime rival Anthony Joshua 27-3 (24) and a rematch with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou 0-1 who he struggled to defeat last October.
“I keep hearing talk of people saying I should retire or I’m going to retire soon or whatever,” Fury said on social media. “I ain’t retiring – I’ve got two fights with Usyk for the undisputed, twice.
“Then I’m going to fight AJ at least once, maybe twice, if there’s a rematch – if he wants one after the first battering I give him. Then I’m going to fight Ngannou again. That’s just the start. There’s five fights for you to whet your appetite. I ain’t going nowhere. I’m 35 years old and in the prime of my life.”
