Tyson Fury’s trainer has confirmed that the Gypsy King’s father, John Fury, will not be in the corner for this weekend’s world heavyweight title showdown with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury Snr faced heavy criticism for his behaviour before and during Fury’s opening bout with Usyk back in May, which the latter won by split decision.
The hotheaded 59-year-old, a former professional boxer himself, was left bloodied after head-butting a member of Usyk’s camp during a pre-fight scuffle, with videos of the incident going viral on social media.
And while Saudi authorities decided to draw a line under the episode, there have been calls for Fury snr to be removed from his son’s entourage to give the British fighter the best possible chance of victory on Saturday night.
Both Tyson Fury and Usyk took part in an open workout in front of the cameras in Riyadh this evening and Fury snr was nowhere to be seen, just three days out from the main event.
SugarHill Steward – Fury’s head trainer – went on to confirm that Fury snr would not be part of their camp, explaining: ‘Tyson is just ready right now, along with myself.
‘He has always has a silly demeanour, playing around, but this is a different side of him and he is 100 per cent ready.’
Pressed on who exactly will be in the corner, Steward replied: ‘Just myself, Andy Lee and the cutman, pretty much that’s it.’
Earlier this week, Tyson remained coy when asked whether his father would be joining him in his corner.
‘I don’t know. I don’t get involved in all that s****,’ the 36-year-old responded.
‘I just go to the gym, train and fight, get paid, go home. That’s what I have always done.’
Andy Lee, Tyson’s assistant trainer, meanwhile, has admitted there were perhaps too many cooks in the Brit’s corner during his opening loss to Usyk.
‘Who knows what will happen? I don’t,’ he told the media.
‘Last time the corner was hectic, especially towards the end of the fight. There were three different voices in there, SugarHill, John and me.
‘I can understand, from a dad’s point of view, he was trying to protect his son. But SugarHill was trying to win the fight. I was told Tyson was two rounds down and I had to communicate that to him.’
After touching down in Riyadh, Tyson revealed that he and his wife Paris had not spoken in three months during his gruelling training camp in preparation for Saturday’s showdown.
‘I’ll end his career. You’ll never hear about Oleksandr Usyk again after this,’ he told Queensberry Promotions.
‘It’s been a long camp, hasn’t seen my wife and kids in three months. I haven’t spoken to [my wife] at all in three months. Not one word, sacrificed a lot. But it’ll all be worth it, 100 per cent.’
This weekend’s heavyweight world title fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury is available to purchase on DAZN.
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