Jai Opetaia's co-promoters release statement responding to rumors of boxer dropping Tyson Fury during sparring session in Saudi Arabia
World cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia was part of Tyson Fury's training camp for his upcoming fight against Oleksandr Usyk.
Opetaia's inclusion made sense, as Usyk used to be a cruiserweight himself. As a result, Opetaia could give Fury the looks he needed to deal with a smaller, yet faster fighter.
Rumors, however, suggested that Opetaia had dropped Fury in training and subsequently left the camp. Recently, Tasman Fighters, Opetaia's co-promoters, took to X (formerly Twitter) to clarify that no knockdowns took place through the course of Opetaia's sparring sessions with 'The Gypsy King'.
They issued a statement that read:
"Jai Opetaia has recently returned from Saudi Arabia where he sparred and trained with Tyson Fury. They were fantastic, competitive rounds and an incredible experience for Jai. However any talk of either boxer being dropped is not true. Jai is now back in Australia finalising his preparation to defend his world title and cannot wait to do so in Saudi Arabia."
Tyson Fury is set to face Oleksandr Usyk on Feb. 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Jai Opetaia will be competing on the undercard. He will face Mairis Briedis in what will be a rematch of their 2022 clash, which Opetaia won via unanimous decision.
Tyson Fury believes Usyk is "scared to death"
Fury faced off with Oleksandr Usyk after their fight was announced, and things got quite heated between the two. Speaking on the faceoff, Fury said:
"It just wasn't like I'm the bigger man, it was just like we're here for a fight, let's get at it son. He gave me a little shove, I gave him a little shove back. I think he's scared to death. He's rattled. His b***s are twitching now boys. His a******e flapping."
Check out the clip here:
The last fight to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion was in 1999, when Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield to win three major titles — the WBC, WBA and IBF belts.
Lewis had to relinquish his WBA title the following year in a dispute over his next title defense. This time around, Fury holds the WBC belt, while Usyk holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.