Tyson Fury’s Sparring Partner Says He Is A ‘Dirty’ Fighter
Agron Smakici, who cut Tyson Fury over his right eye to prevent the Oleksandr Usyk fight, has accused him of being a ‘dirty’ fighter.
Fury was set to face Usyk for the Undisputed Heavyweight Championship on February 17. But the cut meant it was delayed for May 18. This was the second time that Fury pulled out of the fight. They were set to fight last year on December 23.
Fury withdrew following his fight with Francis Ngannou, where he was dropped in the third round. Turki AlalShikh has now said that either fighter pays a $10 million fine if they withdraw. But Smakici refused to feel sorry for Fury, accusing him of being a dirty fighter.
Fury’s Cut
“Nothing special happened. We had a good sparring session all day before that. It’s just he put some fire with some bad talking and some dirty moves. When my head was down he did some dirty tricks and that makes the fire, the heat going on.
“And then I gave 100 per cent of me and the injury happened unfortunately… He said some things, but it’s not so much what he said. He put my head down. Even if I put his head many times down because I have good wrestling skills, he put my head down one time and he was doing like bad things with my head if you know what I mean,” Smakici said
Nevertheless, Smakici has moved on since then. He is currently helping Joseph Parker prepare for his fight against Zhilei Zhang. Parker is on the co-main event of Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou on March 8. There were suggestions that Fury was looking to get out of the fight.
This was based on rumors that he was getting ‘turned over in sparring.’ Fury is 35 and not getting any younger. He went through three tough fights with Deontay Wilder, which were after his mental health struggles. During his time out, he was struggling with alcohol abuse. But Parker and Smakici rejected suggestions that Fury wanted to get out of the Usyk fight.
Fury’s Withdrawal
“I am 100 per cent sure it was my first. Also after the cut he didn’t say, ‘Hey that was an elbow,’ or something like that. There’s a difference between an elbow and gloves with a fist – you would feel the elbow, it’s like a hammer. Maybe it slipped because he was pulling my head forwards. Maybe it slipped to the elbow, but it wasn’t on purpose,” Smakici stated
“Everyone has an opinion, and everyone has a theory as to how it happened or why it happened, but these things happen in boxing. It was a freak accident. I think it was the last sparring session and he caught him with an elbow or a punch, whatever it was, and these things happen. It’s great to see that the fight’s been rescheduled. It’s gonna happen, but it’s just gonna take a bit of time,” Parker added
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