By Norm Frauenheim
Tyson Fury’s cut is generating predictable skepticism and even a few conspiracy theories.
It’s as if he tripped, fell and hit his head on an elbow hidden in the proverbial grassy knoll.
Who knows what really happened?
But Fury’s nasty cut is deep, wide and real. It also might be an ominous sign, a ruptured scar and an ugly marker of the damage inevitably sustained throughout any long boxing career.
Fury is not immune, although his bravado appeared to be in the aftermath of Friday’s announcement that the injury would not allow him to fight Oleksandr Usyk on Feb. 17 for the undisputed heavyweight title. A couple of days later, it was re-scheduled for May 18, still in Riyadh.
Fury answered the skepticism and some taunts, especially from Usyk manager Egis Klimas, who said Fury was “scared’’ and scarred. Klimas then insulted his wife with a slur and said he asked her to hit him in the head with “a frying pan.’’
Fury reacted, saying he doesn’t back down, never backs down.
“Egis, never call me a coward again,’’ Fury said to Klimas on split screens, Klimas with Usyk and Fury with Prince Turki Alalshikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority.
It was an over-the-top show that might have made the WWE jealous. But it was a stage Fury has always dominated in his lousy-lounge-act kind of way.
He sings. Bye-Bye, Miss American Pie.
He trash talks. You have about as much charisma as my under pants, he told Wladimir Klitschko.
He knows how to deliver a punch line and a feint on either side of the ropes.
But that ruptured scar isn’t a feint.
It’s a target.
Like an accident waiting to happen, it has been there since he first suffered a cut near his right eye in a dangerous fight against again Otto Wallin on Sept. 15, 2019 at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
In the third round, Wallin landed a clean left hand that turned his right eye into a bloody mess. The ruptured scar, apparently sustained in sparring for Usyk, appears to be in the same spot as the initial wound.
Wallin, a competent heavyweight, attacked the cut in successive rounds. He opened up another cut along Fury’s right eye brow. Wallin lost the fight by a wide margin on the scorecards – 116-112, 117-111, 118-110. In the middle rounds, however, there were moments when it looked as if the ringside physician could have called the fight in favor of Wallin.
It didn’t happen, of course. The stakes were huge. Fury had a new deal with Top Rank and ESPN. He was living in Vegas. Before Wallin, he introduced himself to the Vegas audience by singing and then stopping Tom Schwarz.
He was coming off a dramatic draw with powerful Deontay Wilder in December 2018. That’s when he got up twice, once in the ninth and again in the twelfth in Los Angeles. A big rematch with Wilder loomed.
Then, Wallin’s punch landed, creating a wound that required 47 stitches. Reportedly, he had a plastic surgeon on call in case of a rupture. The surgeon never got that call
There wasn’t a rupture, not against Wilder, whom he stopped in the seventh round of the first rematch in February 2020 and in the 11th round of a wildly violent third fight in October 2021 at T-Mobile Arena, also in Vegas.
Not against Dillian Whyte, whom he stopped in the sixth at home in the UK at London’s Wembley Stadium in April 2022.
Not against Dereck Chisora, whom he stepped in the 10th in December 2022 at Tottenham Spur Stadium, also in London.
And not against novice boxer Francis Ngannou, who knocked down Fury in the third, yet lost a split decision in Riyadh last October.
That brings us to Usyk, whose boxing skill, predatory instinct and ring smarts are superior to any other heavyweight Fury has faced since his upset of Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015.
Fury, who says he needed 11 stitches to sew up his latest wound, was eight years younger then, 27 instead of 35. He was in his prime. He fought his way through overeating, drinking and drugging. He climbed to his feet against Wilder and climbed to the top of boxing’s fabled division. He was a great story. But even the best stories get bloodied.
Amid all of Fury’s woofing about beating Wilder, he said one thing that’s believable. He said he suffered two concussions in the crazy third fight, which included five knockdowns.
He didn’t mention the concussive first fight, memorable for the way Fury managed to get up. It was called a miracle. But even miracles take a toll.
Against Usyk, Fury encounters a disciplined fighter with accuracy – precision — that was never a part of Wilder’s skillset. For Wilder, it was bombs-away, all in an attempt to land that mighty right hand. If he even tried to go after the scar tissue along the right side of Fury’s right eye, it wasn’t apparent. He just didn’t.
Whyte and Chisora didn’t either.
Ngannou didn’t know how to.
Usyk does.
NOTES
Arizona’s emerging middleweight, unbeaten Elijah Garcia, expects to fight on the March 30 card featuring Tim Tszyu-Keith Thurman at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena in the first Amazon Prime boxing show. The 20-year-old Garcia (16-0, 13 KOS) posted on social media that he’ll fight then. However, his opponent has yet to be named.
The night before Tszyu-Thurman, popular Oscar Valdez Jr. returns to Glendale AZ on March 29 at Desert Diamond Arena where he lost a punishing decision to Emanuel Navarrete on Aug. 12. Valdez (31-2, 23 KOs), a former featherweight and junior-lightweight champion, faces Australian Liam Wilson (13-2, 7 KOs) on ESPN. Wilson also is back at Desert Diamond after a controversial stoppage loss to Navarrete Feb 3, 2023. Many thought Wilson should have won. Despite that, Valdez is about a 4-to-1 favorite.
And John Ryder announced this week — about 10 days after his TKO loss to Jaime Munguia at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix – that he’s retiring. Ryder, 35, was a solid contender. Above all, he was a consummate pro. He knew how to fight. He knew when to walk away. The sport could use more fighters like him.