‘I postponed Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk after splitting Gypsy King’s eye open after he fired me up with a crude act.’
Tyson Fury had his eye split open by his sparring partner shortly after making a crude joke that went wrong, Callum Vurley reports for Talk Sport.
Fury’s epic heavyweight clash against Oleksandr Usyk was postponed earlier this month after suffering a sickening cut to his right eye.
The Gypsy King was set to meet Usyk in a fight that would have unified the heavyweight division, but the February 17 showdown was scrapped with another date decided.
The incident came in the final two weeks of Fury’s training after Agron Smakici battered him after the 35-year-old for making a crude joke.
The Croatian alleged that Fury had thrust his crotch into his backside jokingly, but he did not see the funny side, leading to a fiery exchange before a flailing elbow connected with the WBC champion.
It led to Fury needing stitches in his eye and the fight against Usyk being postponed, much to fans’ disappointment worldwide.
There is no bad blood between the two fighters, though, with Smakici telling 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. Yes, it made me a little more severe; 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 show him I deserved respect.
“I got that respect in the sparring, and afterward, he said, ‘Great sparring, accidents happening, everything before was great.’ Crazy things like this happen in boxing.”
Smakici is a respected boxer in his own right and has sparred with Anthony Joshua, boasting a record of 20-2-0.
Fury will now face Usyk on May 18 instead, while Smakici also insisted that the sparring session came too early in the day.
“I felt the spar was too early,” he said. “That’s just my opinion. We had been sparring around 8-9 pm in the evenings to prepare for the fight.
“But suddenly, we were sparring at midday and still having breakfast at 11 am. The day before, we had done hard sparring, and the day before that, Wednesday, we had done strength training, conditioning, and circuits.
“So a lot was 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, 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, and we did some wrestling and sound 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.”
