Tyson Fury Pulls Out of Oleksandr Usyk Fight with Injury; Suffered Cut in Training

The Feb. 17 showdown between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is off due to an injury suffered by Fury.

Usyk's manager, Egis Klimas, told Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix that Fury suffered a cut while training and it could be "several months" before he's ready to fight again.

Klimas also noted that Usyk is trying to save the Feb. 17 show by finding a new opponent.

Boxing insider Dan Rafael reported there are talks about having Usyk defend the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles against mandatory IBF challenger Filip Hrgovic.

Per ESPN's Mike Coppinger, Fury's cut was described as "severe" and required stitches to be fixed.

Fury and Usyk were set to fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The bout was originally being planned for Dec. 23, though that wasn't officially announced.

After struggling in his Oct. 28 bout against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, who was making his professional boxing debut, Fury needed to push back the match with Usyk.

Promoter Frank Warren, who works with Fury, said his client sustained a cut against Ngannou and would need "a fortnight off," giving him just six weeks to prepare for Usyk.

Matt Majendie of The Standard noted the only date stipulation from officials in Saudi Arabia was Fury and Usyk fought at some point during Riyadh Season, which runs from October through March annually.

Fury escaped the match against Ngannou with a split-decision victory to maintain his unbeaten record (34-0-1). He was knocked down in the third round. It was only the seventh time in his professional career that he was dropped by an opponent.

There hasn't been an undisputed heavyweight champion in boxing since Lennox Lewis in 1999 when he defeated Evander Holyfield.