Tyson Fury has said he should have considered delaying his first fight against Oleksandr Usyk further after suffering a cut in sparring in February, and that his preparation ahead of the rematch has been “a lot easier.”
Fury and Usyk were originally set to fight on Feb. 17 before Fury was cut above his right eye in training camp, forcing the event to be moved to May. 18, when Usyk won via split decision in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ahead of their rematch on Saturday, Fury told Sky Sports that, upon reflection, it may have been worth delaying their initial meeting.
“Thinking sensible, maybe I would have pushed it back a little bit and cost myself $10 million, but it doesn’t really matter because we’re here now and I’m going to do the job on Saturday night,” Fury said.
Turki Alalshikh, the chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority, said prior to the first fight that Fury and Usky risked losing $10m if they withdrew from the undisputed clash.
Fury will look to avenge his only career defeat against Usyk in Riyadh, and said this training camp has been better with less concern around protecting the cut.
“This time it’s been a lot easier,” Fury said.
“I’ve done lots of sparring and I’ve been able to train properly, whereas before it’s no secret that I didn’t do a lot of sparring, hence I had a massive bounty on my cut eye.”