UFC interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall has said that Tyson Fury needs to be careful in sparring to protect the area that was cut ahead of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury and Usky were due to fight last month for the undisputed heavyweight title but instead a cut in training meant that Fury had to pull out, and the clash was rearranged for May 18, shown live on DAZN PPV.
Fury’s last fight had been a controversial split-decision defeat to Francis Ngannou, making his boxing debut last October. Ngannou returns to the ring on March 8 when he fights Anthony Joshua, also live on DAZN PPV.
One cut expert has already weighed in on the prognosis for Fury, but Aspinall believes that as long as the WBC heavyweight champion is sensible with his preparation, he should have no concerns.
He told Betsson: ”It won’t have much of an impact. As soon as the cut is healed you are good to go, no problem. You might have to be careful with sparring but if he gets the right sparring partners, he’ll be fine.
“Tyson has fought a million fights anyways and has sparred a million rounds so he doesn’t need to spar that much either way. As long as he keeps that cut safe, he’ll be good to go so no problem. The cut looked quite big but I’m sure the guy is worth millions, so he’ll be seeing the best doctors in the world, and they’ll be giving him the right advice. If the doctors are saying it is fine for the May date, then I’m sure that’s sound advice from his side.”
Aspinall thinks that Fury is the favourite going into the fight, explaining: “Oleksandr Usyk is a very tricky customer. He is very good, but I would say Tyson Fury will beat him. The pure size of Tyson Fury and the speed he has, will be able to keep up with Usyk and he’s way bigger. A big man always beats a good small man in my opinion so he should get the win.”
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