In disappointing news, it has been confirmed that Hughie Fury has withdrawn from his scheduled May 6 challenge of WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. Citing an as yet undisclosed injury, Hughie, cousin of former world heavyweight king Tyson Fury, caused some concern by not having yet arrived in New Zealand when the champion already had. Now we know why the Furys had not yet touched down in New Zealand.
The fight, a clash of unbeatens, would have been an interesting affair, but now Parker is left looking for a late replacement. Parker’s promoter, David Higgins, is understandably angry at the pull-out news, and he has questioned Fury’s desire to face his fighter.
“I spoke to the WBO president a minute ago and he said the Furys are claiming an injury and therefore we can fight whoever we want when we want as a voluntary defence out of the top 15,” Higgins said as quoted by Stuff in New Zealand. “I know exactly what [the injury suffered by Fury] is; their moral compass has broken in half – a nasty fracture of the moral compass. It’s not just Hughie, the whole camp has.”
A smiling and confident Parker arrived in New Zealand a couple of days ago, and he was surprised to learn that Fury had not yet arrived. “I hope they do come,” Parker said. Now he knows the Furys will not be coming, not on May 6 and probably not ever.
Parker cannot afford to mess around waiting and he must now find another challenger so as to keep his exciting career moving forward.
The big question now (aside from the exact nature of Fury’s injury) is, will Parker still be able to fight on May 6? Will a suitable opponent be found with less than two weeks to go? If not, Parker will unfortunately, and through absolutely no fault of his own, have wasted a 12 week training camp.
With Tyson Fury’s well-documented issues and now this, the Fury camp appears to be in some disarray.