Promoter Preps for Fury’s ‘Withdrawal’

Hrgovic on standby if ‘Gypsy King’ pulls out for the fifth time

Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk has revealed fears that Tyson Fury will withdraw from next month’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight.

The Gypsy King meets Usyk on May 18 in Riyadh as they bid to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion.

The clash had been scheduled to take place in Riyadh on February 17 but was postponed after Fury sustained an injury during camp. He suffered a severe cut above his right eye on Friday while sparring, which has been labelled by his promotion team as a ‘freak cut’. Krassyuk told Boxing Scene he still has doubts that Fury will step into the ring with Usyk next month, claiming the Gypsy King has already withdrawn four times from the fight.

“Usyk has actually had a triple camp for this fight,” Krassyuk said. “He started in September for the fight to take place last December. “We showed up to the Ngannou fight to step in the ring to announce the fight for the undisputed, but his team jumped and said he didn’t look that good, so Usyk gave him some space to prepare at his camp in Saudi Arabia.

“We were then meant to fight on February 17, then we were rescheduled for May. Tyson Fury has withdrawn four times already from this fight.

“I’ve not got too much confidence in the rematch happening, by the way. If Tyson Fury loses, will he have the confidence to step inside the ring again? Theoretically he can, but we all know what happened in the rematch with Wladimir Klitschko.”

The winner of the highly-anticipated bout will also unify the division for the first time since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in March 1999.

Fury is adamant the fight will take place on May 18 - insisting he is focused on beating the Ukrainian boxer.

Fighters have promised to forfeit US$10m (FJ$23m) if they pulled out of the fight, but Krassyuk remains doubtful Fury will compete. He revealed a replacement fighter has already been lined up in the event Fury withdraws from the contest.

“The IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic will be the replacement if (Fury) does it again.

“He is getting ready for Daniel Dubois on June 1, but instead he will have to be ready on May 18 to replace Tyson for any reason. Otherwise we will lose the (IBF) title. It was one of our conditions.” Mail Online