John Fury was spotted turning his back following his son Tyson Fury’s loss to Oleksandr Usyk.
In the biggest fight of his career, Fury came out second best, losing a split decision. The win made Usyk the first Undisputed Heavyweight Champion since 1999 when Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield. While the scorecard suggested a split decision, most of the boxing community felt it was a unanimous decision win for Usyk.
The Ukrainian almost stopped Fury in the ninth round, only for the referee to give a standing eight count instead. During the build-up to the fight, John Fury was heavily criticized for his behaviour. He head-butted a member of team Usyk without any provocation. Although he apologized, there were question marks over whether it was sincere.
John Fury was also in the corner for his son’s fight. He was seen giving instructions alongside SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee. Despite having three men in the corner, it was not enough to get Fury the win. Once the rules were announced, John Fury can be seen turning the other way. He has also not given any public interviews since his son’s loss. Fury’s post-fight comments suggested that there was a problem with his corner.
Fury On His Corner
“I thank Oleksandr for the good fight, it was a close fight but I thought I did enough. I’m not a judge and I can’t judge a fight while I’m boxing it. If they’d said to me before the last round that I was down I would have gone and tried to finish it but everyone in the corner believed we were up.
“All I had to do was just keep boxing and keep doing what I was doing and I was getting it. I’m not going to cry about it, I’ve had plenty of victories. It was what it was. I was having a lot of fun, I was playing around, I had my hands around my back, i was enjoying it.He’s a good fighter Oleksandr, I was catching him and he was catching me,” Tyson Fury said
Froch Responds
There are question marks over whether John Fury should be removed from Tyson’s corner. The fight showed that SugarHill’s role as head trainer was undermined with various instructions. In the past, John Fury has spoken out against SugarHill, saying he should be fired. This after the trainer denied reports that he was in England to train Fury for a Usyk fight in 2023. That removed suggestions that Fury was serious about fighting the Ukrainian last year. Since SugarHill is the head trainer, John Fury has been told to go. Carl Froch was particularly vocal about removing Fury Sr.
“When you’ve got three people – including Big John Fury the fighting man – when you’ve got him in the corner shouting and screaming at you while you’ve got two other people giving you advice, that means you’re listening to absolutely nobody. I thought that was terrible and really unprofessional in his corner. It was bad,” Froch stated
