With the dreadful news of the Tyson Fury Vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight now being postponed due to Fury suffering a cut above his eye in training, reigning WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk is reportedly in discussions to fight Filip Hrgovic on February 17th instead. As per a message from Dan Rafael on social media, Usyk is weighing-up the option of facing Hrgovic, the IBF mandatory challenger, at short-notice.
And, as devastated as so many fans are right now – with plenty of them laying into Fury, with some questioning the legitimacy of Fury’s cut and wondering if the Fury-Usyk fight will ever actually happen – it would be at least a small conciliation if the show did go on. Usyk against Hrgovic is a good fight, an interesting fight, and of course, Usyk doesn’t want to waste a training camp, while Hrgovic has been waiting ever so long for his earned shot at the IBF belt Usyk holds.
‼️ Footage has now emerged appearing to show the moment Tyson Fury was cut by an ELBOW in sparring, causing the Oleksandr Usyk fight to be postponed… pic.twitter.com/dDy3e0Cv4o
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) February 2, 2024
And, with good fights such as Jai Opetaia against Mairis Breidis II set for February 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, maybe the show should indeed go on. Right now, the boxing world in turmoil due to Fury’s bombshell news, fans don’t really know what to think. Along with the question of should the show go on, questions such as the following are being asked – Should Fury be stripped of the WBC heavyweight title? Is Fury really scared of Usyk? And, just how many fights has Fury pulled out of during his career now?
Looking at the picture of Fury and his cut, the wound above his right eye, the injury looks as legit as can be. But maybe we need to see Fury make an appearance on live TV, that way, if the cut is legit, there could be no way anyone could question it, seeing Fury live and on the big screen, the cut clearly not merely one from a doctored still. Hey, it’s very cynical and overly suspicious to be thinking this way, but plenty of people are. And in many ways, Fury, with his terrible track record of both pulling out of fights and of making crazy pre-fight demands at the negotiating table, has brought this manner of thinking on himself.
Bottom line, no fighter can help getting injured in training, but at the same time, plenty of people simply do not believe Fury.
Moving on, maybe, to a Usyk-Hrgovic fight, who wins? And if Hrgovic, a good fighter who is hungry for his shot, does fight Usyk and he defeats him, is that the end of a Usyk-Fury fight for good?
Questions, questions. Oh, what a mess.
