Tyson Fury has made a late change to his backroom team ahead of the title defence with Dillian Whyte.
Whyte challenges Fury for the WBC heavyweight championship later this month at Wembley Stadium under the guidance of trainer SugarHill Steward, who brought in Jacob ‘Stitch’ Duran as his cutman for his last two fights against Deontay Wilder.
However Duran will not be part of the corner team when Fury fights Whyte in his second-ever title defence, also the first time he has fought in the United Kingdom since 2018, with all three of his Wilder fights taking place in the US.
Fury has now called up Frank Hopkins, the hugely experienced 76-year-old who has worked the corner in more than 30 world title fights over the course of his career, and who has worked with Frank Warren - Fury’s co-promoter - plenty of times in the past.
Speaking to The News, Hopkins confirmed his role, saying: "It's a massive, massive thing, it's really big, I can't wait to be a part of it.
"This fight is like nothing you've ever seen, I'm really looking forward to it.
"This would be like nothing you can imagine. Can you imagine, I'll be getting into the ring in front of a sell-out Wembley and he's got a cut on his forehead?"
Fury has reason to be concerned that he has the right man behind him to treat any cuts. Arguably the closest he came to defeat was in 2019 when he took on Swedish heavyweight Otto Wallin.
While he emerged victorious, the Briton suffered a huge cut in the third round which left him on the defensive, and the injury was severe enough to put his first rematch with Wilder in doubt.