Oleksandr Usyk revealed he defused what might have been an unpleasant brawl forward of Saturday’s undisputed title combat with Tyson Fury.
On Monday, John Fury, the daddy of the WBC heavyweight champion, was on the centre of a fracas with members of Usyk’s crew.
Footage appeared to indicate John Fury lashing out along with his head in the direction of Stanislav Stepchuk. John Fury was later pictured with blood coming from a head wound.
Usyk described how he prevented his crew from escalating the confrontation additional.
“I said, ‘Hey, Team Usyk back. Step back, please.’ Listen my team is very good if you want to fight, not boxing, street, shooting, knives, wrestling. But I said: ‘Hey, hey guys, please back.’ We must do good behaviour,” Usyk stated.
“My friend [Stepchuk], is a powerful guy. A street guy. Did you see the video, he was like a pit bull. I said ‘Stop!’ Okay, [they did].”
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Fury and Usyk sit up for their heavyweight champion conflict on Saturday night time and share what a victory will imply to each of them
The Ukrainian considers the incident disappointing. “Of course it’s discipline,” he stated. “It is unhealthy, it is simply unhealthy.
“A stupid situation. I don’t want to call John bad because I don’t know, because it’s not my life.”
However Usyk insisted it is going to be no distraction forward of Saturday’s heavyweight championship conflict.
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Warning: video contains graphic picture. Tyson Fury’s father John provides his perspective of the conflict between himself and Oleksandr Usyk’s camp in Riyadh
“For me it doesn’t matter, I think it’s bad behaviour from Tyson’s team. Listen, we are professional athletes, we’re not street fighters. It’s a big event for our people, for the UK and Ukraine,” he stated.
“If you want a situation like to destabilise my team, it’s not possible. Because it’s not only professional sportsmen. It’s professional soldiers, it’s professional sportsmen, it’s professional people.
“This example for me would not matter, it is solely motivation for my crew.”
