Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter has revealed the timeframe of the Ukrainian’s scheduled showdown with Tyson Fury.
Fury’s historic undisputed heavyweight February 17 champion clash with Oleksandr Usyk was postponed after the British star suffered a cut during sparring.
The pair were set to battle in Saudi Arabia to unify Fury’s WBC heavyweight championship with Usyk’s WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts, crowning the first unified heavyweight boxing champion since 1999.
Usyk’s promoter,Alexander Krassyuk, confirmed the fight will go ahead later this year and that Ukrainian heavyweight is still training ahead of a possible match-up against IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic.
Speaking live on Instagram, he said: ‘Will Usyk be fighting on the 17th? We are working on that and in the next couple of days a final decision will be taken.
WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT
Fury (left) will no longer fight Oleksandr Usyk on February 17 after getting cut in sparring
This is the nasty laceration above Tyson Fury’s right eye which has postponed his next fight
Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk (L) says the highly-anticipated fight will happen this year
IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic could step in for Fury in Saudi Arabia later this month
‘There is only one option because the IBF has sanctioned the undisputed fight on the condition that after this fight the champion has to fight the mandatory, which is Hrgovic. That means if the champion fights someone else, he will be stripped of his belt by the IBF.
‘With Hrgovic, there is a slight chance.’
Krassyuk also suggested the decision on whether the February 17 event will go ahead comes down to his excellency Turki AlAlShikh.
Fury suffered a severe cut above his right eye on Friday while sparring, which has been labelled by his promotion team as a ‘freak cut’.
The wound required stitches, leading to the postponement of the undisputed heavyweight contest.
‘I am absolutely devastated after preparing for this fight so long and being in such superb condition,’ a dejected Fury said.
‘I feel bad for everyone involved in this huge event and I will work diligently towards the rescheduled date once the eye has healed.