Tyson Fury lost his heavyweight title last year in defeat to Oleksandr Usyk and has since hung up his gloves but his father, John, reckons his son’s belts were controversially stolen
John Fury has claimed his son’s heavyweight titles were stolen from him in a stunning rant. Tyson Fury dropped his belts to Oleksandr Usyk last year via a split decision.
But the Gypsy King failed to reclaim his crown when he fell to a unanimous defeat in the rematch and Fury Sr reckons his son actually emerged victorious in both fights. Ukranian star Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years after their first meeting.
Two judges scored the bout 115-112 and 114-113 in his favour, with the third showed Fury as the winner 113-114. The ex-cruiserweight then vacated his IBF belt to enter a rematch Fury in December and saw all three judges ruling the contest 116-112 for Usyk.
Fury Sr was not present in the corner at the second fight, after being part of a three-man team in the first. But John has now given his verdict on the decisions and suggested they couldn’t afford to pay Fury if he remained champion.
“He had them stolen off him, to be honest,” Fury Sr explained to Seconds Out Boxing.
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“What can you say? When somebody’s paid you a shed load of money they seem to resent letting you stay champion as well…
“They probably didn’t want to pay him the same amount of money again, probably couldn’t afford to pay Tyson that same money again if they let him remain as champion.”
Fury Sr did admit that the Gypsy King’s preparation could have been better heading into the bouts however.
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“For me, he won both fights,” Fury Sr continued. “He didn’t look in fantastic shape in the second one.
“In the first one, he needed more rest time – he put a full camp in, seven weeks, got cut, he had three weeks rest, and he’s back in the gym for another eight weeks.
“You can’t do those things, so by the time he got in the ring for the first fight with Usyk he had overtrained; there was nothing left in him.
“But, he was facing a $10-15million fine, he was backed in a corner, I told him, ‘Take the fine, take the fine,’ I said, ‘They’re not going to fine you, because there’s no show without you.’”
Fury has since retired from boxing but there remains speculation he could make a return to the ring. Responding to an Instagram post of an interview with Usyk suggesting another fight could be on the cards, Fury seemed to suggest a clash in the United Kingdom could make a trilogy.
Fury wrote: “Beat the f***er 2 times the world knows the truth. Any time, any place. sucher (sic) UK next time 100k people.”
