Fury incident 'another reason' for Usyk to win heavyweight title fight

Ukrainian told his entourage not to get involved after Tyson Fury’s father headbutted a team member before Saturday’s fight.

Boxer Oleksandr Usyk during a media day in Riyadh. Picture: Nick Potts/PA Wire.

Oleksandr Usyk, we were warned, was exhausted and angry. He was in no mood to talk for he had spent all Monday afternoon being shunted from one room to the next and made to suffer the tedium of countless television and YouTube interviews as he was asked the same old questions again and again about his world heavyweight unification title fight against Tyson Fury this Saturday night in Riyadh.

It was agreed that we would leave the IBF, WBA and WBO champion in peace for his only break from the monotony had been when Stanislav Stepchuk, one of the younger members of his entourage, had been head-butted in the face by John Fury, the 59-year-old father of the WBC champion. It had been a bloody moment which looked so tawdry compared to the mighty challenge awaiting Usyk against Fury – and especially when set against the reality of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a war which is never far from the champion’s mind.