Tyson Fury tipped to withdraw from Oleksandr Usyk fight as major doubts raised

Fury and Usyk will do battle in a heavyweight title unification clash on May 18, with the bout taking place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It had to be rescheduled after ‘The Gypsy King’ suffered a cut above his eye during sparring in February, meaning he was unable to fulfil the original date.

Fury has already held a press conference ahead of the event, in which he unveiled his training camp plans and confirmed that father John will be part of his preparations.

But despite his intense preparations beginning to get underway, he has been surprisingly tipped to potentially withdraw.

That’s the view of British former super-middleweight champion George Groves, who retired from professional boxing in 2018.

Groves told Betway: “I’ve said since the start – I’ll believe it [the fight] when I see it.

“I don’t think Fury has ever fancied the Usyk fight. He’s talking about having 10 more fights, but if he loses to Usyk how does that work?

“It’s a massive risk for him to fight Usyk. He’s probably really hoping that Usyk can’t take a body shot.

“[After the cut] I thought to myself, ‘I bet Fury would rather have a bit of Anthony Joshua than Usyk, because he’ll see that as an easier fight.

“That [versus Joshua] is the fight everyone really wants to see. I don’t believe if he pulls out [of the Usyk fight] he’s going to have to pay a $10 million fine.

Getty

“Usyk is probably thinking, ‘I don’t know if this guy is going to show up’, because there’s still a chance Fury pulls out.”

However, while announcing the new fight date, Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki Alalshikh sent a warning to both fighters about withdrawing from the bout.

He said: “If Usyk is scared, I will call for Joshua vs Tyson.

“If Tyson is scared, I will call for any fighter Usyk wants, and it’s my name on this thing. We have a guarantee from both sides, and they know it now.”