Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk in fight row hours before rematch
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk's teams are locked in talks over which judge should replace Fernando Barbosa who fell ill and was unable to fly to Riyadh. Barbosa was due to be replaced by Steve Weisfeld for tomorrow night's rematch but Sky Sports reports that two judges are in contention to step in. Fury's promoter Frank Warren has reportedly suggested a coin toss to resolve the issue which will be down to the Middle Eastern Professional Boxing Commission to solve.
Experienced judge Weisfeld has history with both fighters and had Fury in front during his second and third fights with Deontay Wilder before the Brit brought both bouts to a premature close. Weisfeld also scored Usyk's first fight with Anthony Joshua in the Ukrainian's favour at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Meanwhile, insists the time for joking is over as he pledged to put unified heavyweight champion Usyk in the "hurt locker".' Fury has cut a menacing figure at the week’s promotional events and Thursday’s head to head press conference continued along the same theme as the usually verbose 36-year-old Briton kept the talking to a minimum.
The biggest flashpoint came towards the end of a protracted 12-minute face-off when Fury began taunting Usyk, who hit back with his own insults and a smile, before they were eventually separated. “I’m going to dish out a whole lot of pain. I’m going to put this f***** in the hurt locker, for sure,” a heavily-bearded Fury said.
“I’ve got nothing to say apart there’s going to be a whole lot of hurt and pain in this fight, you watch. Watch me go to work on this f*****. “The talking has been done. The first fight I talked and joked. All of my career. This time I’m serious – I’m going to do some f*****g damage here on Saturday night.”.
