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Tyson Fury cutman reveals likely date for rescheduled Oleksandr Usyk fight after Gypsy King suffers gash in sparring
The heavyweight division is in limbo following Fury's horror cut
TYSON FURY will need at least "THREE MONTHS" to recover before he can start sparring again following the costliest cut of his career.
The Gypsy King was forced to withdraw from his historic undisputed heavyweight title fight with Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi later this month after suffering a horror gash on his right eyebrow in sparring.
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An accidental elbow from one of his training partners reopened scar tissue left from the cut he received in his September 2019 clash with Otto Wallin.
The cut required significant stitching, so much so that Fury won't be able to face Usyk until the "SUMMER" at the absolute earliest.
The WBC heavyweight champion's cutman Jorge Capetillo told : "I would say it will take 90 days at least to recover from a cut in sparring.
"Hopefully the fight can happen in the summer because it’s such unfortunate news.
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"The cut needs to heal really good and then Tyson can get back in action, back in training and get back in camp so it will be at least a few months for sure.
"Accidents can happen in sparring, and this is what has happened with Tyson so he will need time to heal."
Capetillo insists the wound would have immediately re-opened had the fight gone ahead and could have led to a TKO loss.
He said: "It will now reopen during the fight if they continued into the fight so now he needs time out to make sure it doesn’t open up with a first punch from Oleksandr Usyk.
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Tyson Fury's statement in full
TYSON Fury has apologised to boxing fans after suffering a horrific cut to his eye in training.
Fury said: "I am absolutely devastated after preparing for this fight for so long and being in such superb condition.
"I feel bad for everyone involved in this huge event and I will work diligently towards the rescheduled date once the eye has healed.
"I can only apologise to everyone affected including my own team, Team Usyk, the undercard fighters, partners, and fans as well as our hosts and my friends in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."
He also posted on instagram, with the caption: "Can't help getting injured in sparring but what I can say was Usyk was in trouble.
"I am in fantastic shape. I will resheduel (sic) soon as i can. 2024 a massive year for team GK #undisputed #wbcking"
"Obviously during camp, sparring sessions when getting ready for a fight of this calibre means you bring the best sparring partners you can and work hard in sparring but sometimes it’s very tough and things like this can happen.
"We always try to prevent that and make sure the fighter has a healthy camp, but this is part of the game.
"This is a fight that requires the best of the best with the best sparring partners.
"When there’s a cut happened by a punch, the opponent can get a TKO if the fight gets stopped so all of that stuff is important to have precaution.
"I know how hard Tyson was working for this fight.
"His work ethic, his discipline, he was working really hard like always and was so hungry for this fight.
What does this mean for boxing?
The saddest thing is this didn't really come as a surprise to the British boxing media, writes SunSport's boxing correspondent Wally Downes.
Rumours of Fury struggling in sparring with cruiserweight King Jai Opetaia and teenage sensation Moses Itauma were rife.
It seemed unlikely that the Gypsy King would risk upsetting Turki Alalshikh and the Saudi paymaster.
But now the disaster has officially hit.
As recently as Friday afternoon, SunSport was being invited to Usyk's secret European camp for a media day on February 6.
And there was the release of the mega-money promo that merged about eight Hollywood films and cost silly million pounds.
If it's only a cut, there is the outside chance Fury can be back in a few weeks.
But we saw against Otto Wallin that he's vulnerable to a bleed that needed months to recover.
When Fury was dropped and useless against Francis Ngannou in October - delaying the original undisputed decider - the money men behind the scenes created an incredible replacement with AJ vs Wallin.
And they could do something absolutely crazy to compensate now.
"But these things happen, and cuts happen."
Team Usyk were left devastated by the news of Fury's cut, although the Ukrainian's manager has sensationally claimed the Brit deliberately got injured in a bid to avoid the former cruiserweight king.
Egis Klimas told Ring Magazine: “Fury is a f***ng coward who will do anything not to face Usyk.
"And he asked his b***h to hit him with a frying pan in his brow.
"You can quote me word for word for that.”
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Fan favourite Usyk has yet to speak on the postponement of the Riyadh rumble.
But the former undisputed cruiserweight king is still preparing to fight on February 17.
Promoter Alex Krassyuk posted a video of the 37-year-old sparring to his Instagram story last night with the accompanying caption: "Usyk right now."
Fury's childhood sweetheart and wife Paris took to social media late on Friday night to reveal her reaction to the horror cut.
She wrote on her Instagram story: "My full body was shaking with nerves when he showed me this cut because I wasn’t there with him.
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"He sounded so p***ed off and disappointed.
"But this is boxing (a dangerous sport) and these things can happen."
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