AS if the fallout over judges wasn’t enough, elsewhere during Friday’s rules meeting, the other contentious points related to the length of Fury’s full beard, the position of the shorts and Usyk kissing a cross in the corner.
Fury will not be obligated to shave it off, while his team sought clarity that any punches landed below the navel would be deemed low blows regardless of where the fighter’s shorts and protective cup are positioned.
Confusion caused chaos in Wroclaw last August when Daniel Dubois’ fifth-round body punch was considered a low blow, Usyk’s shorts were high but no prior clarification or detailed instructions about illegal punches prior by the ringside official in their dressing rooms meant controversy persisted long after their world title bout. Clarity features heavily this time around.
During Friday’s weigh-ins Alex Krassyuk, Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, told Boxing News: “Usyk doesn’t care [about the beard] but for us as his team, we do care because we all have to comply with the rules. We’ll sort it out with the commission, I can assume he will not shave it but something is missing, maybe they want to help Tyson somehow but it’s dangerous.”
He also likened Usyk not being allowed to kiss the Christian crucifix – a religious gesture of devotion – to the commission or Queensberry telling someone they couldn’t go for Friday prayer in Saudi, declaring it a stupid request and wasn’t definitive on the final decision despite prior reporting suggesting it would not be permitted.
What he was unequivocal about, was the double standards being displayed by one particular sanctioning body with its president Mauricio Sulaiman in full view this week.
“When co-ordinating the judges [to be accepted for fight night], we made it very clear that this is option one and option two. We’re not favouring a judge, we’re favouring… following the rules and our agreement. If the WBC does not follow its own rules, well, I will speak now to the president and see what their position is.”
