Fury was set up by his sparring partner. Fury framed Usik and the sheikhs. Postponing the Usyk-Fury fight looks like a logical decision. And the Ukrainian’s promoters received a new challenge

The most anticipated boxing match of 2024 is heavyweight unification bout between WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO world champion Alexander Usik and WBC belt holder Tyson Fury – postponed again. Scheduled for February 17 in Riyadh The fight has been postponed indefinitely due to the Briton’s injury., received in the last week of sparring. Involuntarily, a whole series of set-ups turned out: the sparring partner set up Fury, who in turn set up Usik and the sheikhs, the latter set up the Ukrainian team, announcing the cancellation of the boxing evening. Let’s try to figure out what happened and how to get out of this situation now.

What’s happened

The first to report Fury’s injury – a deep cut received during sparring – was the famous boxing journalist and insider Mike Coppinger. Later, Fury himself confirmed the information about the damage he received, publishing a photo and an apologetic text.

“I’m absolutely devastated after having trained for so long for this fight and being in such great shape. I feel sorry for everyone involved in this huge event,” Fury said.

A little later, a video of the episode appeared in which Fury was allegedly injured. Then well-known people in the boxing world began to put forward their versions and descriptions of events.

Why do many people think Fury has pulled out of the fight?

To be honest, there were and remain reasons to believe so. Firstly, this is the second time Fury has canceled his fight with Usyk. For the first time, this happened last year, when the Gypsy King put forward new financial demands each time, and later accused Usik’s team of greed and signed a contract for a fight against Ngannou. True, then everything was not so serious: there were no signed contracts, no venue, no dates, no ticket sales.

Secondly, the breakdown of the Fury-Klitschko rematch is still memorablewhich was marked by the Gypsy King’s failure to attend the press conference, allegedly due to a car breakdown and a dead phone, and then completely abandoning the fight due to depression.

Thirdly, the trick of rescheduling scheduled fights Fury definitely didn’t use it two or three times.

Fourth, if we follow the usual practice of training camps, Fury spent the penultimate, and maybe the last (remember, everything happened, according to official data, on February 2), a week of sparring before the fight. Risking your health and tens of millions by making tough cuts is, to put it mildly, stupid.

Why does it seem like Fury wasn’t faking it?

Firstly, everything looked really natural. Fury and his sparring partner (I would like to know who disrupted the event worth hundreds of millions) worked in helmets and large gloves to protect themselves from possible risks. But the blow itself, which led to the cut, as was seen in the video, was inflicted by the elbow. It is unlikely that the sparring partner of the Gypsy King, who receives good money, intentionally injured “his” employer. And in the heat of battle, this happens.

Secondly, based on the video, the elbow strike landed perfectly – right under the helmet. Of course, it is possible to do this on purpose, but it is very, very difficult.

Thirdly, judging by the photos and videos, Fury, at least visually, was in excellent shape – much better than the one in which he entered the fight with Ngannou.

Fourthly, for Fury’s reputation, another breakdown due to his fight with Usik is not the best option. Let’s not forget about the possible financial consequences of refusal, which, by the way, Fury threatened Usyk with.

Why postponing the Usyk-Fury fight is the best option

Let’s immediately make a reservation that there is no official information yet about the cancellation of the boxing evening scheduled for February 17 in Riyadh, where, let us remind you, in addition to the Usyk-Fury fight there was a good card, except for the comment of the Chairman of the Kingdom’s State Administration for Entertainment Turki Al ash-Sheikh. But it seems that everything is heading towards this, because without the Usyk-Fury fight, the boxing evening loses its meaning. Like the entire program of Riyadh Season – the main cultural festival of Saudi Arabia and truly a state project. It is within its framework that all significant events of January–March take place in the country.

Secondly, what to do with the fans and spectators who bought all the tickets for the boxing evening, I think, just for the sake of the Usyk-Fury fight. Leave them in force for the rescheduled date? Compensate for part of the funds or the entire amount? Just pretend that nothing happened, holding a boxing evening without the main fight or quickly finding a replacement for Fury? It seems that each of the options will definitely not be an option. Not to mention the fact that finding a worthy replacement for Fury 2 weeks before the fight is unrealistic.

Challenge to Usik’s team

So it turns out that now Usik’s team finds itself in the most difficult situation. The boxer’s promoter, Alexander Krasyuk, has been in boxing for too long not to keep force majeure in mind, especially when it comes to Fury. That is why, until the last moment, he insisted that he would believe that the Fury-Usyk fight would take place when he saw the boxers in the ring. But, it seems, two weeks before the fight, he had no doubt that everything was going according to plan and the fight would take place. Plus, the reasons mentioned above were really significant for the boxing teams to refuse the fight.

See also: Usyk – Fury. Spectacular fight promo (video)

But now it is Usik’s team that finds itself in a difficult situation. Alexander spent a long, difficult and expensive training camp. He has already reached or will soon reach peak form, and if so, he either needs to fight, or take a break to rest – several more months of grueling work and preparation for a new opponent (and initially the program is built for each opponent) will be a difficult task even for a phenomenal, but already 37-year-old boxer.

Plus, don’t forget about the birth of a daughter in the family of Alexander and Katerina: the boxer probably wants to spend time with the baby (and the timeline of the fight with Fury allowed this) before going back to training camp for at least a few months. This means that the main and VERY difficult task for Usik’s team is to find an opponent in the near future and, which is also very likely, a location for the fight. Preferably in February.

Who should Usika choose?

Immediately after the announcement of the postponement of the Fury-Usyk fight, reports appeared that the Ukrainian’s opponent on February 17 would be the official IBF challenger Filip Hrgovic. However, this option seems unrealistic, unless, of course, the Croatian simply decides to earn an easy check.

Firstly, Hrgovic last fought on December 23rd. Yes, De Mori did not cause any special problems for the Croatian, but too little time has passed since the fight and, unless Hrgovic has been preparing all this time and not celebrating, going out on two weeks notice against the best boxer in the division who is in optimal shape is not a good idea in a sporting sense. Secondly, you need to take into account that stylistically Hrgovic and Fury are completely different boxers, which practically cancels out all the work done by Usik.

Of the other worthy opponents, almost everyone is busy: Joshua is preparing for a fight with Ngannou (and the third fight between the Briton and Usik is unlikely to be of interest to the public), Parker and Zhilei are busy preparing for a head-to-head duel, Wilder was clearly not at ease on December 23 and lost the fight , unlike the same Hrgovich.

But it seems that there is an ideal option for a Ukrainian. Congolese Martin Bakole is a highly ranked boxer, hungry for victories and rated very highly among experts and fans. Bakole fought a long time ago – on October 28, he is no stranger to going out on short notice and, most importantly, he knows Usyk well, and Usyk knows him: the Congolese has repeatedly been the sparring partner of the Ukrainian. There is also an intrigue: in his interviews, Martin has repeatedly stated that he dropped Usyk in sparring. What a reason to increase interest in the fight. But in any case, the question will be where to hold the fight.

Difficulty of choice

If, nevertheless, Usik’s team manages to find a replacement for Fury, then the question will arise how the organizers of the boxing evening in Riyadh will perceive this. On the one hand, they will save the event, on the other hand, how will the fans perceive this? And what to do then?

This, in turn, is another challenge for Usik’s team. If Saudi Arabia refuses to host a boxing evening, and K2 decides to (even if it’s just a month away), they’ll have to look for another venue or country. Organize the sale of tickets, broadcasts, cards. There is experience in all this, but there is very little time. And if the company agrees to this challenge and copes with it, it will be worthy of great respect.

In any case, K2 CEO Alexander Krasyuk today announced a live broadcast. We hope that from him we will hear further options for the development of events and the plans of Usik’s team.