Tyson Fury suffered the first defeat of his professional career to Oleksandr Usyk earlier this month, with many people criticising the advice in his corner
Tyson Fury’s uncle and former trainer, Peter Fury, reckons SugarHill Steward should have told John Fury to be shut up during the Gypsy King’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk – and said if it had been him he would’ve sacked him.
The boxing community is still dissecting what went wrong for the ex-WBC heavyweight king in his first professional loss. While many have argued over the tactics and the training Fury underwent, many in the fighting world think there was too much going on in the Gypsy King’s corner.
Alongside his mainstay coach SugarHill and seasoned pro Andy Lee, John was also seen and heard dishing out instructions to the 35-year-old. As videos of all three talking over each other continue to be shared, Peter, who masterminded Fury’s triumph over Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf back in 2015, believes SugarHill should have stamped his authority on the situation and silenced any unsolicited advice.
“I’ve already said, I can’t be bought in boxing and fighting,” Peter said while speaking to October Red. “If somebody is on in the corner, I’ll say: ‘Shut your f***ing mouth now or go out the back’ – it’s happened before.
“I’m not having anything going on in that corner. ‘You’re the bucket man, you wash the gumshield out, you wipe his head down, do not speak’. That’s the instruction. If they speak, automatically when they get back to the dressing room, they are sacked on the spot. That’s the way it is,” reports the Express.
“You’ve got to have that discipline, you’ve got to have a fully professional corner, that’s why I’ve got Kerry Kayes, that’s why I’ve got John Pegg. They are proper people, proper fighting people who understand this game and that’s what you’ve got to have, especially in world title fights.”
Do you think John Fury should have been told to go to the back during Tyson Fury’s loss to Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know in the comment section below
The situation was further exacerbated in the final round when John was heard advising Fury that he was leading the bout on points and encouraged him not to take excessive risks. Fury ended up losing via a split decision, with two of the judges declaring Usyk as the winner with scorecards of 115-112 and 114-113, while one judge claimed Fury won with a score of 114-113.
Despite Fury and his promoter Frank Warren asserting they both believed the Gypsy King had done enough to secure victory, few people outside of his camp have disputed the decision. Peter conceded that Fury fought a commendable fight and was up against the toughest opponent he had ever encountered.
However, he also thinks the advice given in the corner in the 12th round was entirely misguided. He added: “When he fought Klitschko in 2015, we’re coming into the 12th round.
“I said the following: ‘Let me tell you this. We’re in a strange country, Klitschko’s got all the belts, it’s his TV network, I think you’re winning it wide. But get out there and try and stop him. That’s your call, because we could get robbed on points’.
“He went out there in the 12th round and put it on him. My advice [for Usyk] would have been ‘I don’t care if you have got one leg and you’re dying in the corner. Get in there, you are down and you’re losing this fight. Get in there and go out on your back, put it on him’. That’s what should have happened in the corner.”
