HAYE HO
Former heavyweight champion David Haye’s wish comes true after 11 years as Tyson Fury has to axe Usyk fight over cut
The former heavyweight champ is revelling in Tyson Fury's misfortune
DAVID HAYE has revealed he wanted Tyson Fury to suffer a fight-postponing cut after the Gypsy King trolled him for pulling out of their 2013 showdown.
The former WBA heavyweight champion was forced to withdraw from their grudge match 11 years ago after suffering a nasty gash in one of his final sparring sessions.
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Fury was relentless with his abuse of Haye and even suggested his "s***house" rival deliberately got cut so he could pull out of the fight.
Haye, 43, hasn't forgotten that and has now spoken out after Fury was forced to cancel his February 17 showdown with Usyk.
He said on Instagram: "Fury suffers a cut a couple of weeks before the fight. I know that pain all so well - in 2013 when I was scheduled to fight Tyson Fury, I suffered a cut.
"And oh did I not hear the end of it from him.
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"I actually remember at the time thinking, 'I hope one day before one of his big fights he has to suffer this.'
"'He's been that much of a d**k about it.' And here we are. But I don't feel that good about it at all."
One of Fury's slew of tweets lambasting Haye for pulling out of their fight went viral hours after his historic clash with Usyk was delayed again, with fans seeing the funny side.
The WBC heavyweight champion wrote: "The cut is genuine. Correct you can't box with the cut.
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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.
"Correct has to be cancelled. That's why he's cut so he can pull out. S***house."
Fury had 15 stitches to close the wound re-opened by sparring partner Agron Smakici, who has also sparred with former two-time unified heavyweight king Anthony Joshua.
And his cutman reckons it could be at least THREE MONTHS before he's allowed to resume sparring.
Jorge Capetillo told Betway: "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.
"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.
"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.
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.
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"His work ethic, his discipline, he was working really hard like always and was so hungry for this fight.
"But these things happen, and cuts happen."
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