Earlier today (Fri., Feb 1, 2024), news broke that Tyson Fury’s highly-anticipated title fight against WBA, IBF, and WBO kingpin Oleksandr Usyk — which was set for Sat., Feb. 17, 2024 at Kingdom Hall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — had been cancelled as a result of a cut suffered by “Gypsy King” in sparring (pic).
Newly-released video footage showed that it was actually an elbow that caused the cut, and the unfortunate domino effect that ensued. The clip shows Fury sparring partner tag the big man with an upward elbow in the clinch, promoting a stoppage in the action and outrage from John Fury, who can be heard in the background yelling in disgust.
This is now the second time that the fight has been postponed, as the two boxing champions were pegged to face off in Dec. 2023 before Fury asked for some time off following his win over former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou, which proved to be a tougher battle for him than expected.
Speaking of “The Predator,” he didn’t hesitate to react to the news on social media using great Photoshop work of himself and the viral Kevin James meme calling for his scheduled fight against Anthony Joshua to be for the undisputed king of Heavyweight boxing. It’s something that is unlikely to happen seeing as how there are a million boxing belts floating around. Nevertheless, Ngannou hopes to have another impressive showing when he battles Joshua on March 9, 2024, also in Riyadh.
For now, there are no concrete plans to find a replacement for Fury, though current IBF mandatory title challenger, Filip Hrgovic, has already volunteered to step in and fill the void on two weeks notice.