Frank Warren, co-promoter of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, has no doubt that his boxer will be ready to go for the rescheduled date with WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA champion Oleksandr Usyk.
The fight was on pace to take place on February 17, but it was recently pushed back to May 18 – after Fury sustained a severe cut in training camp.
The sanctioning bodies are applying a lot of pressure on both boxers to proceed – as several mandatory challengers are pushing to get their shots.
While many fear another postponement, Warren expects the event to proceed as planned.
“Cuts and blood always look bad wherein a couple of weeks they can look much different,” Warren told the Toe2Toe podcast. If he’s confident, I’m confident. He’s not going to set himself a date that’s going to fall apart.
“We’ve got governing bodies pressurizing because they want to see the belts being fought for so it’s a matter of it has to happen on that date. I’m quite confident it will do.”
Warren does not anticipate Fury’s cut becoming a problem when training camp resumes.
“He’s had bad cuts before. He feels that it will be healed up in the next couple of months and that will give him six weeks preparation,” Warren said.
“Contrary again to all the ridiculous rumors he was in magnificent shape. You’ve only got to look at some of the photos of him to see. He’s now got another date to aim for and that’s where he’s at. I think the general mood of the camp is they can build on all the good work they’ve done. It’s not unusual in boxing. There are stacks of fights over the years that have been delayed.”
Warren believes Usyk’s weakness is his body. He felt Daniel Dubois knocked Usyk out with a body shot last year, but the referee ultimately waved it off as a low blow.
The veteran promoter also feels Usyk complains often to the referee when hit to the body.
“He has previously….. complaining and moaning when he gets caught to the body,” Warren said. “Now he’s in there with a guy who is the master of taking advantage of any weakness.
“He does it a lot Usyk, he ‘crybabies’ to the ref. He’s had previous for it about body shots. As long as the referee’s strong in that I’m really happy and I’m even more confident in Tyson in this fight than I was prior to [Usyk] fighting Daniel Dubois.”