TYSON FURY suffered the gruesome sparring gash that delayed the undisputed decider after a saucy prank backfired.
The fun-loving 35-year-old WBC champ was in the final two weeks of training for a February 17 showdown with Oleksandr Usyk when bloody disaster struck.
The Gypsy King was doing practice rounds with respected 33-year-old southpaw Agron Smakici in Saudi Arabia when he playfully thrust his crotch at the Croatian’s backside.
The former MMA fighter – who was a crucial trainer parter for Anthony Joshua in his camps for Usyk and Otto Wallin – felt disrespected by the humping and knuckled down extra hard.
And then a fiery exchange ended with Smakici landing a left hook on the undefeated giant and an accidental elbow following through and landing and requiring 14 stitches.
Fury shared a gruesome snap of the cut online after the fact.
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While talented leftie Smakici was gutted about his role in delaying the first undisputed decider since 1999 until May 18.
But he and Fury parted on good terms, with the 20-2 ace agreeing to go and help his best friend Joseph Parker prepare for his March 8 shootout with Zhilei Zhang.
Smakici told SunSport: “He did it but it was a joke and I didn’t take it seriously,
“I was not angry, because he was laughing, he is funny. He is a comedian.
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“Yes it made me a little more serious, it made me want to show him what I had.
“But it was a clean punch and the elbow was not on purpose, I was just trying to give him better rounds and to show him that I deserved respect.
“I got that respect in the sparring and afterwards he said ‘great sparring, accidents happening, everything before was great’.
“Crazy things like this happen in boxing.”
Fury has been approached for comment.
‘Like dirty boxing’
Smakici has lifted the lid on what happened before he accidentally cut Fury, suggesting the timing of the sparring session was perhaps too early…
“I felt the spar was too early,” he said. “That’s just my opinion.
“We had been sparring in the evenings, around 8-9pm, to be ready for the fight. But suddenly we were sparring at midday and still having breakfast at 11am.
“The day before we had done hard sparring and the day before that, Wednesday, we had done strength training, conditioning and circuits. So there was a lot happening with our body and minds.
“It was early sparring, at late notice, we were in the middle of breakfast when we had to get ready.
“But Fury was motivated, he said he wanted 12 rounds, he did three with Thomas Carty and then I came in.
“He made jokes like ‘let’s go little sausage’ but he was very motivated, dancing in the ring and using his reach a lot.
“I got in and used my style, it was physical, we did some wrestling and good combinations.
“Then the cut happened because we were tired.
“I threw the left hook but my head was also going forward because he was pulling it, it was a bit like dirty boxing.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
