Tyson Fury’s dad headbutts Oleksandr Usyk team member in melee

Is it truly a Tyson Fury fight week if his father John isn’t embarrassing himself?

Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion, and Oleksandr Usyk, the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion, have both arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of their highly anticipated bout on Saturday for the undisputed heavyweight title.

During media day on Monday, Fury’s and Usyk’s camps crossed paths and it quickly turned ugly.

Warning: Expletive language

The two sides shouted vulgarities at each other incessantly while being held back by security, but then John Fury head-butted a member of Usyk’s team, Stanislav Stepchuk.

The altercation had not become physical before the headbutt.

John Fury quickly walked away, but he was left with a bloodied face.

Tyson Fury’s dad John was left with a bloody face after headbutting a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s team during media day on Monday. Screengrab

He and the Fury camp then began chanting “Fury! Fury!”

John Fury subsequently apologized.

“Sincere apologies to everybody involved,” John Fury told Seconds Out after the incident. “It’s just the way we are. Emotions and tensions are running high. He was a very disrespectful fella. If you come close in a fighting man’s space, you’re gonna cop for something.

“What matters to me is respect for my son and he wasn’t showing any of it. He mentioned my son and that was it, so he had to have it. It doesn’t bother me [bleeding], it’s what we live for, we’re fighting people. That’s a regular occurrence to me. ”

Tyson Fury’s dad John headbutts a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s team during media day on Monday. Screengrab
Tyson Fury’s dad John headbutts a member of Oleksandr Usyk’s team during media day on Monday. Screengrab

It certainly is, as John Fury flipped a table over during a press conference for his other son Tommy’s — Tyson’s half-brother — bout against KSI last August.

“What’s happened to your head, you silly c–t?” Tyson Fury asked his father after Monday’s incident.

Stepchuk made fun of John Fury’s age.

“I was just supporting our team,” Stepchuk told Seconds Out. “We were only shouting, ‘Usyk, Usyk,’ I didn’t touch him. He went crazy… Yeah [I wanted to punch him], but because of the age difference it would not be very fair… He should not look for an actual fight because he could have a heart attack and finish in the ambulance.”

Saturday’s winner will be the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999, and the first in the four-belt era.

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