The boxer who delayed Tyson Fury‘s conflict with Oleksandr Usyk has denied claims he confirmed “zero remorse”.
Agron Smakici was sparring Fury when he elbowed the Gypsy King above his proper eye, inflicting a reduce that wanted 11 stitches. His mishap has induced the undisputed heavyweight title struggle with Usyk to be pushed again from February 17 to May 18.
Shortly after a video of the incident circulated on-line, reviews claimed Smakici had proven no remorse. But the Croatian, 33, has damaged his silence to garbage these ideas.
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He advised the Daily Express: “I don’t know who said that. This is the first time I am speaking about this… I have not told this story.
“It was an odd day. Throughout the 2 weeks I used to be sparring with him, we did onerous sparring within the evenings however that day it was at about noon.
“During the spar, there was a lot of wrestling, and I also do professional wrestling so I had some good moments keeping him in the wrong positions. He was joking around, as he always does, and we were roughing each other up on the inside.”
Who would you blame for the reduce – or is it no person’s fault? Let us know your ideas within the feedback part.
(Image: Queensberry)
(Image: Instagram/agron_smakici)
Smakici went on to insist the collision was unintended, explaining how Fury was holding his head and pulled him in as he threw his punch, inflicting the elbow to observe by way of.
Opening up on Fury’s response, he added: “He was very professional. He wasn’t blaming anyone. Obviously, he was shocked and devastated but he wasn’t annoyed with me or anything like that.”
Smakici was drafted into Fury’s camp alongside undefeated British heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma and cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia to assist emulate Usyk’s model.
(Image: PA)
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He shared between six and 9 rounds with the Brit in complete and described Fury as being in “good shape”. Contrary to reviews claiming that the WBC champion was getting ‘turned over’ within the health club, Smakici says Fury was “sparring well”.
“I would like to come again and help him spar because I gave him the best sparring rounds, and I will even put on an elbow protector next time so that nothing can happen,” he joked.
This article was crafted with the assistance of AI instruments, which velocity up Dailystar.co.uk’s editorial analysis. A content material editor reviewed this content material earlier than it was printed. You can report any errors to readercomplaints@reachplc.com