A new season of sportsThe news came very suddenly, Tyson Fury withdrew!
The unification of the Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight world titles, originally scheduled for February 17, 2024, had to be postponed. The disappointing news was officially announced by the chairman of the Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority, Turki Alarashik, on Friday night.
"Today, I announced in Riyadh that the highly anticipated heavyweight boxing event 'Flame Ring', the unification of the World Champion between reigning WBC heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and unified champion Oleksandr Usyk, has been postponed," Turki Alararashik revealed. The reason is that Tyson Fury was unfortunately injured in his right eye by a sparring partner during pre-match training in Riyadh and had to withdraw from the game. The match, which was originally scheduled to take place on Feb. 17 as part of the Riyadh boxing event, will now be rescheduled at a later date, with tickets previously sold for full refunds. ”
The tournament was originally planned to be held at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Along with the postponement of the main event, all of the mat bouts have also been postponed, including Jay Operaya's welterweight world title fight against Mariz Bridis and Joe Cordina's IBF welterweight world title fight against Anthony Kakas.
It is reported that after learning that Tyson Fury was injured by a sparring partner, the tournament organizers had specifically approached Oleksandr Usyk's team to negotiate the possibility of finding a replacement opponent. Among the candidates is reigning IBF heavyweight world champion Forced challenger Filip Hrgovic, who was supposed to challenge for the winner after the bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
However, the tournament organizers and Oleksandr Usyk team were halted by Saudi Arabian management. Clearly, Saudi investors are only interested in the match between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, as evidenced by their decision to cancel all other mat matches.
Speaking at the press conference, Turki Ararashik stressed: "Once the medical team has assessed Tyson Fury's eye injury, we will redefine the schedule for the resumption of play. At that time, all parties in Riyadh will work closely together to quickly reschedule the game. We will provide regular updates to keep you updated on our progress. ”
I can tell you that Tyson Fury is also having a hard time, after all, he has spent months preparing to get his body to peak condition. He was disappointed not to be able to participate in the tournament this time, and he would like to apologize to all the individuals and groups affected, including his own team, Team Usyk, players from other competitions, partners, fans, and the event staff in Riyadh. Tyson Fury promises that once the eye injury is fully healed, he will return to boxing as soon as possible, eager to bring a memorable and exciting fight to boxing fans around the world. Turki Alararashik told reporters.