Tyson Fury Could Sack John Fury – Here’s Why

John Fury was heavily criticized for his role in Tyson Fury’s corner following his loss to Oleksandr Usyk. 

Fury suffered a split decision loss as Usyk became the Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. It was the first loss of Fury’s career, as serious questions were raised over John Fury. During the fight week, he headbutted a member of team Usyk without any provocation. That earned him mass condemnation as he singled out the smallest member of Usyk’s team. To make matters worse, Fury came out worse, following the head butt with blood pouring from his forehead. While he would apologize for his actions, it set the tone for a tough night for Tyson. 

In the crunch moments in the fight, John was heard overpowering SugarHill Steward and Andy Lee in the corner. Steward is the lead trainer, while Lee is seen as the assistant. However, Fury received instructions from all three, which came back to haunt him. In his post-fight press conference, Tyson admitted that he was winning the fight due to his corner. Had he been told to attack, he would have done so. 

John Fury’s Problem

John Fury also does not have a good relationship with Steward. When the Usyk fight was first being negotiated, Steward denied suggestions that he was in the UK to train Fury for the Usyk fight. He stated he had come to help Lawrence Okolie. Those comments did not sit well with John, as it suggested Fury was ducking Usyk. John called for Steward to be sacked, so naturally, there was not much harmony in Fury’s corner. 

John Fury’s boxing career also shows he does not have the best boxing IQ. He finished his career with a record of 8-4-1. He was knocked out in his last two professional fights, with his last bout happening in 1995. Andy Lee is a former world champion, while Steward is the son of the legendary trainer Emanuel Steward. Emanuel predicted that Tyson would become a world champion, so SugarHill is seen as the natural continuation of that legacy. 

Fury’s father has also been linked with boxing fights himself. Joe Egan has repeatedly called out John Fury, only for the Gypsy King’s father to ignore the fight. John Fury has been chasing a fight with Carl Forch instead. To make the Froch fight, John wanted to ensure enough money was involved. Froch responded that any fight had to be done for charity, preventing that from happening. Based on the reaction to John Fury’s cornerwork, it may be time for him to go. 

Reaction

“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,” Carl Froch

“People online are saying that the corner work was absolute shambles because John Fury was screaming over the top of SugarHill… John Fury was screaming over the top, so you’re sitting there getting conflicting advice [when] you need a cool, calm, collected corner. A lot of the time you don’t need to tell them how to box, you need to calm their minds and give them an accurate reflection of what’s going on the fight.

“You can’t have people shouting all over the place, that’s absolute madness. You can’t have people getting emotional and trying to be heard and be seen on camera. Of course, John Fury is his father and he’s emotionally invested but sometimes you have got to know your place,” Michael Bisping 

Peter Fury

“There should only be one man in the corner, there shouldn’t be three or four. Some are too emotional in the corner and some are giving the wrong advice. I think the only one that spoke a little bit of sense in the last dying stretch of it was SugarHill, who said ‘put it on him’. When you go into fights, it doesn’t matter who it is, it could be a family member, but you’ve got to give precise clear information.

“And the thing I always say to the fighter is, ‘Are you listening, do you understand what I’ve just told you to do?’ There were too many people, but maybe Tyson wants that? I don’t know, it’s been years since dealing with me.I don’t know what the situation is but clearly for me the game plan was wrong and only one should be speaking. How can you listen to all that? It’s going a bit panicky and it’s all over the place,” Peter Fury

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