Agron Smakici, who cut Tyson Fury in sparring, has told talkSPORT what to expect from ‘The Gypsy King’ on Saturday.
Fury squares off against Oleksandr Usyk in the first undisputed heavyweight showdown of the four-belt era on May 18 in Saudi Arabia.
They had initially been scheduled to duke it out on February 17.
However, their fight was pushed back by a month after Smakici opened a gash above Fury’s right eye in sparring, which required 11 stitches.
Leaked footage from their final sparring session revealed that an elbow had caused the cut but Smakici insists it was a ‘freak accident’.
The Zagreb-based heavyweight spent two weeks in Fury’s camp ahead of their initially proposed date and shared between six and nine rounds with the Brit.
READ MORE ON FURY VS USYK
He was not asked back to spar Fury for his second camp but did get a good impression of how he will approach his upcoming clash with Usyk from the rounds they shared together.
“I think he’s going use his legs, he’s going to move a lot,” Smakici told talkSPORT.com.
“You’re going to see him use his heavy body to grab Usyk and he will use his long jab.
“I think now he is much more ready than he was before.”
Asked whether the wound above Fury’s eye is at risk of opening against Usyk, Smakici replied: “It isn’t serious against Usyk because he is not a heavy hitter.
“If he was fighting [Anthony] Joshua he would cause some serious damage.
“You saw what he did to Otto Wallin’s face [when they fought].
“Punchers like him will cut Fury but Usyk will box with him and shouldn’t do the same damage.
“It is 100 percent a problem against big punchers because they can make the cut bigger with their punches.”
Smakici is 20-2 as a professional boxer and had an absolute barnburner with Agit Kabayel last year for the European heavyweight title.
He dropped and nearly stopped Kabayel in the second round but was subsequently finished on his feet one round later in a dramatic turn of events.
That performance now looks significantly more impressive after Kababyel’s career-best win over Arslanbek Makhmudov last December, which elevated him into a WBC final eliminator against Frank Sanchez on the Fury vs Usyk undercard this weekend.
What Is An Undisputed World Champion?
In boxing, an undisputed world champion is someone who wins all of the four major world title belts in their division – WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.
Fury currently has the WBC while Usyk holds the WBA, IBF and WBO. Therefore, the winner will hold all four belts as undisputed king.
The last man to hold all the belts in the division was Lennox Lewis when he beat Evander Holyfield to add his WBA and IBF titles to the WBC belt before what is now known as the ‘four-belt era’ with the WBO being recognised from 2004.
Smakici has also been used as a sparring partner by several of the best heavyweights in the world.
Besides Fury, he has also shared the ring with Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Joseph Parker.
Comparing Fury to the aforementioned, Smakici added: “He is the most skilled boxer I have been in there with.
“For his proportion and height, he is very talented. He has different power.
“He has a power punch like every heavyweight, when he hits he hurts. He doesn’t hit as hard as Joshua or Wilder but it is still there.
“But I think he’s more of a dancer and a showman than those two. He knows how to box, he knows how to make the most of his reach.”
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News Summary:
- I cut Tyson Fury’s eye to cancel Oleksandr Usyk fight but it won’t effect game plan as he doesn’t hit like Anthony Joshua
- Check all news and articles from the latest Boxing updates.