Tyson Fury’s cutman Jorge Capetillo has revealed that extra precautions will be needed to avoid his fighter’s cut re-opening.
Fury pulled out of his Undisputed Heavyweight Championship bout on February 17 against Oleksandr Usyk after sustaining a big cut over his right eye in sparring. That was the second time Fury pulled out of the Usyk fight, initially set to go ahead on December 23 last year.
There are suggestions that Fury should only have been focused on body sparring to prevent such a cut. Usyk’s former coach, James Bashir Ali, is also not convinced that the cut will heal in time for May 18. He believed the cut needed more time to heal, with a June date being more realistic. If that eye is a potential weakness, then Usyk’s team will no doubt target it. However, Capetillo has plans to navigate his fighter through the bout.
Fury’s Cut
“There’s always a possibility that it could reopen, but Tyson has to do what he is good at with his distance, reach, not trying to knock him out in one punch. For a heal, it should take like 90 days but it’s been 60 days or more since the cut so I am sure with the right treatment, he should be ready for May 18.
“Soon he can start with some light sparring, nothing hard but to get the reach and distance right. It is more important than power punches with reach and timing. Tyson has to treat the cut well before the fight and do sparring sessions with nice head gear. He needs to start with nothing crazy to make sure he doesn’t get hit hard, so it doesn’t re-open,” Capetillo said
Chisora On Fury
Dereck Chisora has also expressed his worry about Fury’s cut, saying he must change his style. The Gypsy King has become a front-foot aggressive fighter under SugarHill Steward. That was shown in the aftermath of his first Deontay Wilder fight. Fury returned to knock out Wilder on two consecutive occasions. But if he does this against Usyk, he risks running into something. Fury may now revert to boxing, but does he have the legs to do it? Chisora felt the WBC Champion had no choice but to change his style.
“Fury is going to have to box. He can’t stand there because his eye is not healed yet. Under the eye is still cut. I know that Usyk is going to be training to tag the eye to get it to open the eye up. So, it’s going to be a bloodbath. Yes, with the way he wants it all now, totally different,” Chisora stated
Nevertheless, Fury has shown that he rises to the occasion in the biggest fights. No one gave him a chance to compete against Wilder in their first fight. Not only did Fury make it to the distance, he was robbed of a historic win after the fight was declared a draw. If Fury can utilize the mindset of being an underdog, there is always a chance that he can pull off another historic win.
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