TYSON FURY had the £10million forfeit clause forced upon him by Oleksandr Usyk’s concerned team after his second pull-out.
The 35-year-old WBC heavyweight king pulled out of the February 17 undisputed decider with Ukraine’s WBA, IBF and WBO boss last Friday, after suffering a cut in sparring.
It was the second time in three months that the Gypsy King had pushed the iconic Saudi Arabia show back, after his dismal performance in the narrow October 23 win over boxing debutant Francis Ngannou got him another stay of execution.
And on Saturday night, when the rescheduled May 18 date was confirmed by new Riyadh boxing powerbroker Turki Alalshikh, the powerful Saudi politician revealed another pull-out would have massive financial consequences.
The details remained vague but on Tuesday at a Valencia press conference, after his wasted training camp was finally closed down, Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas explained the smallprint.
“It was our request,” Klimas, who had a shouting match with Fury over video call at the weekend, said.
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“We put that to the Saudi people, and they accepted it.
“If he pulls out, the money has to come from the fighter, not from Saudi.”
Usyk, who missed the birth of baby daughter Maria to complete his training camp, refused to pour salt in Fury’s stitched wound.
But he did add fuel to the suggestion that the video team Fury leaked allegedly showing the Brit giant suffer the injury while wearing a headguard – while sparring partner Agron Smakici was wearing giant padded gloves – could have been staged.
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“I saw it but I didn’t think about it,” he said about the grainy clip.
“I have mentioned before that there are certain measures taken by highly professional fighters, 20oz gloves, headguard, vaseline on the faces and gloves to avoid cuts and injuries.
New date for Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk CONFIRMED after Gypsy King was forced to pull out of megafight with horror cut
“Otherwise you are jeopardising the whole event and being disrespectful to the people involved.”
And in one final chilling message to Fury, before he spends some time with his young family before starting another camp, he warned him not to pull any more stunts.
“We have to be cautious and treat this professionally”, he said. “And spend every minute we spend in the ring with attention and respect.
“To judge someone for his mistakes is a weakness. Even if someone is trying to play me then he is playing to my rules.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
