Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk: Doubts emerge following 'replacement fighter' claim

Oleksandr Usyk 's promoter has drafted in a replacement fighter for Tyson Fury if the Brit pulls out of their undisputed clash again.

Fury was originally scheduled to fight Usyk on February 17 for all four heavyweight belts, but was forced out after suffering a cut in one of his final sparring sessions. The fight will now take place on May 18 but Alex Krassyuk, who promotes Usyk, is worried that Fury could postpone the fight again by pulling out.

"The IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic will be the replacement if [Fury] does it again," Krassyuk told Boxing Scene. "He is getting ready for Daniel Dubois on June 1, but instead he will have to be ready on May 18 to replace Tyson for any reason. Otherwise we will lose the [IBF] title. It was one of our conditions.

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"The game is about being undisputed. It’s not about money - it’s about heritage, about glory. "Tyson Fury says he doesn’t care about that, but at the press conference he was saying, 'Wow, the IBF, the WBO, the WBC, the WBA, the Ring Magazine, the undisputed, the lineal', which I’ve never heard of."

Fury hasn't fought since winning a controversial decision against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou and Usyk stopped Dubois in the last defence of his unified world titles. Krassyuk admitted he doesn't have much confidence in Fury and Usyk fulfilling their two-fight deal if his man gets the job done next month.

"Usyk has actually had a triple camp for this fight," Krassyuk added. "He started in September for the fight to take place last December. We showed up to the [Francis] Ngannou fight to step in the ring to announce the fight for the undisputed, but his team jumped and said he didn’t look that good, so Usyk gave him some space to prepare at his camp in Saudi Arabia.

"We were then meant to fight on Feb 17, then we were rescheduled for May. Tyson Fury has withdrawn four times already from this fight. Remember that we were looking to fight last April; he pulled out of it then, too. That’s why we fought Daniel Dubois. This will be the fourth camp we have had for Tyson Fury."