John Fury, former boxer, and the father of Tyson Fury has apologized for violently headbutting Stanislav Stepchuk, who is a member of Usyk’s fight camp, but what will happen next?
The shocking scenes unfolded on Monday, May 13, when cameras caught John Fury walk over to Stanislav Stepchuk during a media day to hype up the unification clash between son Tyson, and Oleksandr Usyk—set to take place on Saturday, May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury thrust himself forward and clashed heads with Stepchuk, but found himself covered in blood following the impact of two skulls colliding.
Commenting on the incident, Stepchuk told YouTube’s Seconds Out (via a translator) that Fury had erupted only because Stepchuk had shouted Usyk’s name. “He just exposed his mind, he went crazy,” said the younger man, telling Seconds Out that he didn’t want to hit him back, explaining: “… because of the age difference, it would not be very fair.”
What will happen to John Fury following his headbutt on Stanislav Stepchuk
Press conferences are often heated affairs in the run up to big boxing matches like this unification clash, but Fury’s actions have rightly drawn criticism from both inside and outside of the sport. After watching the incident on a mobile phone, Seconds Out asked “How did you wind up being the first one to get cut in the fight John?” The ‘Head of the Fury Clan’ responded; “Sincere apologies to everybody involved to be honest with you. It’s just the way we are. Emotions and tensions are running high, and, err, he was a very disrespectful fellow wasn’t he?”. Apparently, John felt that Stepchuk had made reference to Tyson. “We’re fighting people, aren’t we? That’s a regular occurrence to me,” he added. “Disrespect my son, and I will die for my boy.”
While the apology was hardly unconditional, Stepchuk is unlikely to pursue assault charges instead focusing on his teammate, the Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, as he looks to take Tyson Fury’s WBC heavyweight title. Usyk is undefeated in his professional career and holds the IBF, WBA, and WBO world heavyweight championships. And, it is understood that Saudi officials also want to draw a line under the headbutting incident, in order to make sure that the hotly anticipated fight goes according to plan. This will be welcome news for John Fury, who already has a criminal record for wounding with intent. No doubt, with blood being spilled before the bells has even run, anything can happen on Saturday night. The fight will be broadcast live via DAZN, unless something else happens before then.
