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Tyson’s Fury cut has not healed properly and will plague him for the rest of his boxing career.

That is according to cutwoman, Sammy Morris. Fury faces the biggest fight of his career when he takes on Oleksandr Usyk on May 18. The Undisputed Heavyweight Championship is on the line, as both men aim to become the first person since Lennox Lewis in 1999 to achieve that feat. Both boxers are undefeated, but Fury’s preparations have been hampered.

He pulled out of the February 17 date after sustaining a big cut over his right eye in sparring. Reports stress such cuts would take ideally around three months to heal. That has created the narrative that Fury may be pushing it, especially since he suffered a huge cut against Otto Wallin. While Fury did have 11 stitches for the latest cut, Morris expected it to open since it was the same area that Fury cut for the Wallin fight.

Fury’s Cut

“If he did that five years ago [against Otto Wallin] and the wound has come open again five years later in exactly the same place then it hasn’t healed properly and now it’s double wound site. He’s been cut and cut again in the same place. It just goes to show that after five years it hasn’t knitted back together. Fury is 35 years old now and it is going to take him almost double the time to heal as someone that is 20 years old. So it will cause him problems and I personally think it will come open in his next fight,” Morris said 

Those comments will no doubt impact Fury’s strategy in the fight. Since teaming up with SugarHill Steward, Fury has become a more aggressive fighter. His two knockout wins over Deontay Wilder showed Fury was willing to sit down on his punches. While that may have been the case, that strategy could play into Usyk’s hands.

Usyk’s Former Coach

Usyk’s left hand could pepper Fury’s eye and catch him on the way in. Fury looks much more learner than usual, which may suggest that he may try to outbox Usyk. The Ukrainian, however, has bulked up more, showing that he anticipates that Fury will lean on him to use that extra weight advantage. But Usyk was able to neutralise a much bigger Anthony Joshua on two occasions, even though Joshua is a more powerful combination puncher than Fury. Usyk’s former coach, James Ali Bashir, warned that Fury’s cut could make him suffer in the fight.

“May, that’s cutting it short, that is hurrying it up. I can see that cut re-opening if they go in May. I would push the fight back to June or July to be sure. [And] I personally as a boxing trainer would push it back. The longer that he takes time for it to heal, the better the cut is going to be but I don’t know about May,” Bashir stated

This article first appeared on BoxingNews.com and was syndicated with permission.

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