ANTHONY JOSHUA is ready and willing to step in and save Tyson Fury’s skin again.
The 35-year-old WBC heavyweight champion of the world has pulled out of the February 17 undisputed decider with WBA, IBF and WBO boss Oleksandr Usyk after suffering a cut in sparring.
The disastrous news comes just three months after the Gypsy King’s terrible performance in the narrow October points win over boxing debutant Francis Ngannou led to the four-belt showdown getting pushed back.
London 2012 legend AJ leapt in and battered Otto Wallin to keep that December 23 Saudi Arabia show on, accepting just five weeks’ notice.
And SunSport understands the fearless 34-year-old would happily bring forward his March 8 clash with Ngannou, to keep the date with boxing’s Middle Eastern money men.
A source inside AJ Boxing SunSport: “Anthony has saved the day before and there’s no doubt he would be willing to do it again.
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“After beating Wallin, AJ had a brief Christmas holiday in Dubai and was straight back in the gym preparing for Francis Ngannou.
“AJ has been working with Saudi Arabia since 2019 and they know how dependable and trustworthy he is to deliver, even on short notice.”
The show organisers have already been ordered to tear down all the temporary facilities erected in Riyadh, suggesting there will be no miraculous Plan-B, even with AJ’s help.
Fury jetted out to the desert on January 2 to begin his training camp but now needs expert surgery on the nasty gash and is likely to be out of action for around three months.
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We understand Australian cruiserweight star Jai Opetaia gave the 6ft 9in Morecambe giant nightmares before his spell as a sparring partner was cut dramatically short.
And that 19-year-old southpaw prospect Moses Itauma also enjoyed plenty of success when shaping up with the undefeated giant.
However, it was 20-2 unknown Agron Smakici who inflicted the gash above Fury’s right eye.
Worryingly for the 20st skilster, it’s the same eye he suffered a 47-stitch wound on, after getting whacked by Wallin in 2019 and will need time to heal.
The wounded Traveller 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.
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.
“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.”
Usyk has done his training camp in Spain and is pressing ahead with a media day on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s 37-year-old former undisputed cruiserweight ruler is expected to push on with a fight on February 17.
Filip Hrgovic is the IBF’s long-waiting mandatory challenger but his recent run of form has been underwhelming and there will be minimal mainstream interest in that meeting, especially after all the excitement around Fury vs Usyk.
Usyk’s team have seen the online sparring footage of the incident that supposedly caused the deep cut.
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But they are not 100 per cent convinced that it is legitimate, after spending 18 months chasing a fight with the unpredictable Brit, after Usyk dethroned AJ with back-to-back points wins.
The no-nonsense team even claim that they expected a Fury stunt to blow the landmark bout so they are more disappointed than surprised.
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
