Tyson Fury suffered a gnarly cut in sparring ahead of his upcoming fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Because of the injury, Fury was forced to postpone the undisputed heavyweight title bout.
On Saturday afternoon, we found out the new date.
Fury, Turki Alalshikh, Usyk and his manager Egis Klimas were guests on Ariel Helwani’s MMA Show, and the new date was announced as May 18. The location for the fight will not change. It will remain in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
It’s believed the cut happened here during sparring. This was confirmed by Fury during the interview with Helwani.
The original date was Feb. 17, but we’re now seeing the fight pushed out approximately 90 days. That should be ample time for Fury’s gash–which required 11 stitches–to heel.
The interview was especially informative, even beyond the Fury-Usyk drama. Alalshikh discussed a few different scenarios for Francis Ngannou, Anthony Joshua, who are set to meet later this year in Riyadh, as well as confirming Dmitry Bivol-Artur Beterbiev as a main event of an upcoming Saudi event in June.
Alalshikh also shot down a rumored request from Gervonta Davis, who reportedly asked for “2 Ferraris” to fight on an upcoming Riyadh card. During the interview, Alalshikh said, “we will give him [Davis] 2 gloves if he wants to play in Riyadh.”
With each passing week, it’s becoming more apparent Alalshikh and Saudi Arabia now hold sway over a large portion of the decision making for major fights in boxing, and there are significant roots being laid in mixed martial arts.
In any case, the biggest heavyweight fight of the year has an official new date.
