Tyson Fury made plenty of headlines during a bizarre open workout as he ramped up the mind games ahead of his massive heavyweight title rematch against Oleksandr Usyk.
The self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ is back in Riyadh this week as he looks to swiftly avenge his first professional defeat, seven months on from being edged out in a close split-decision loss at the Kingdom Arena to relinquish his WBC belt.
The crowd hoping to see Fury being put through his paces at Wednesday night’s open workouts at the Boulevard World shopping mall were left sorely disappointed however, as he had his gloves put on by trainer SugarHill Steward and walked around the ring acknowledging fans before quickly then having them taken off again without throwing a single punch.
A bearded Fury – who, like Usyk after him, arrived at the venue in style by boat – then gave a menacing short interview in the ring comprising only 17 words, responding when asked if he had any other surprises in store for the weekend: “A lot of pain. Smash and damage.”
Asked if he planned to shave his beard ahead of fight night, Fury replied only: “A lot of hurt.”
Pushed on if that was his ongoing motto for the weekend, he responded: “Hurt. Serious hurt.”
Fury was finally asked if he was clearly done with all the talking ahead of the rematch with Usyk, saying again only: “A lot of damage.”
When asked about Fury’s confusing workout ruse, Steward also appeared to reveal that Tyson’s dad John would not be in his corner on Saturday night as instead he is set to be joined by only Steward, fellow coach Andy Lee and his cutman.
“Tyson Fury is just ready right now, along with myself. He has always had a silly demeanour, and playing around, but this is a different side of him. He is 100 per cent ready,” Steward said.
“Just myself [will be in the corner], Andy Lee and the cutman. Pretty much that’s it.”
