What are they saying?
The fight in Riyadh, originally proposed for December 23 and then set for February 17, has been rescheduled for the Saudi Arabian city on May 18.
Usyk told reporters in a press conference at his training camp on Spain’s eastern coast that he had sacrificed a lot to prepare for the fight and Fury – whose cut in sparring has forced the fight to be pushed back – should take the fight more seriously.
“I sacrificed all the days that we used to spend with my family; New Year, Christmas, my birthday, the birthday of my son, the birthday of my second son, and of course the birth of my daughter,” he said.
Usyk said he would now spend two or three days at home, to hug his daughter and be with his wife, before returning to training.
He said he had been sparring in the ring when he was told about the latest postponement, and questioned Fury’s training methods.
“I’m not judging anyone, but the thing is that we have to treat this more seriously. This is a very important and well anticipated fight for the whole world,” he said. “There are certain measures taken by highly professional fighters, normally you use the head gear, using the big gloves, like 20 ounce gloves, for sparring.
“You apply Vaseline on the gloves of the sparring partners, you apply Vaseline on your mask, on your eyebrows, to avoid cuts, to avoid any kind of injuries. Because you are treating this in a different manner than a professional you are jeopardising the whole event and you behave disrespectfully to people who are involved.” Fury said that he had never before suffered a cut in sparring for a big fight.
‘You’re getting smashed to pieces, sausage’
In a press conference confirming the previous February date, Fury said of Usyk:
“I’m going to bust him up. Sausage. Ugly little man. Rabbit. Run rabbit, run rabbit, run, run, run. You know what’s coming? You’re getting smashed to pieces, sausage. You’re fighting the best British heavyweight there’s ever been.
“You’ve beaten the rest of them, but you haven’t beaten Tyson Fury, sausage. You can never beat me. If you beat me in your dreams you better wake up and apologise. I stole that from Muhammad Ali, I apologise.
“When you sleep at night ugly man you’re going to think of me for the next eight weeks. I’m going to punch your face in. You ugly little man.”
‘A man who wears an earring can never beat Tyson Fury’
The trash talk was in full swing before Fury’s injury, with the Briton even taking aim at his opponent’s earrings.
“I know he can’t beat me, I know he can’t. A man who wears an earring can never beat Tyson Fury ever. Not a chance, no-one who wears earrings can beat him.”
Usyk responded:
“I can explain about the earrings. It’s Ukrainian warrior, Cossack. They were the people who defended my country from our enemies for many years. This is just the proof of my Cossack lineage
Fury spoke live on DAZN at Anthony Joshua’s victory over Francis Ngannou and said:
“Yeah I’m healing well, the cut is doing really well. I’m in good shape and I’m raring to go, can’t wait to get into camp.
Who is on the undercard line-up?
Jai Opetaia will have a rematch against a man he defeated to become a cruiserweight world champion, Mairis Briedis. They will fight for the vacant IBF cruiserweight championship.
Joe Cordina make a second defence of his IBF super-featherweight crown and he will fight Belfast’s IBO world champion, Anthony Cacace.
German heavyweight Agit Kabayel will face Cuban boxer Frank Sanchez and Sergey Kovalev fights Robin Sirwan Safar at cruiserweight.
Britain’s Mark Chamberlain takes on Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab at lightweight.
Isaac Lowe, who is Tyson Fury’s cousin, takes on Hasibullah Ahmadi at featherweight.
David Nyika, the 6ft 8in Kiwi cruiserweight will fight Michael Seitz and heavyweight Moses Itauma will face Ilja Mezencev.
