Tyson Fury’s uncle and former trainer Peter Fury believes Steward SugarHill should have told John Fury to miss the corner during Gypsy King’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk. Nearly two weeks later, the boxing world is still conducting a postmortem on the former WBC heavyweight champion’s first career defeat.
Many fans and experts of this sweet science believe that Fury had too many people advising him in his corner in Saudi Arabia. In addition to long-time trainer SugarHill and experienced Andy Lee, Fury’s father John could also be heard shouting orders to his son.
Sometimes the three of them shouted over each other, and John, known for his raucous voice, was often the loudest person in the corner. Peter, who led Fury in the corner when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko in Dusseldorf to become the unified heavyweight champion of the world in 2015, believes SugarHill should have taken the lead in the corner and told everyone who spoke while he he was supposed to go to the back.
“I have already said that I cannot be bought in boxing and fighting,” Peter said in an interview with October red. “If someone is sitting in the corner, I say, ‘Shut up now or go out the back’ – it’s happened before.
“There’s nothing going on in this corner. “You are the bucket man, wash the rubber cover, wipe his head, don’t speak.” This is the instruction. If they speak out, they will automatically be dismissed immediately upon returning to the locker room. So it is.
“You’ve got to have that discipline, you’ve got to have a fully professional corner, that’s why I’ve got Kerry Kayes, that’s why I’ve got John Pegg. They are decent people, decent fighting people who understand the game and that’s what you need to have, especially in world title fights.”
Things got even worse in the final round when John was heard telling Fury he was winning the fight on points and urging him not to take too many risks. Fury lost by split decision, with two judges picking Usyk as the winner with scores of 115-112 and 114-113, while one judge said Fury won with a score of 114-113.
Although Fury and his promoter Frank Warren said they both believed the Gypsy King did enough to win, few outside his camp objected to the decision. Peter admitted that Fury put up a good fight and faced the best opponent he had ever faced.
But he believes the advice given in the 12th round corner was completely wrong. He added: “When he fought Klitschko in 2015, we were going into the 12th round. I said the following: “I’ll tell you this. We are in a strange country, Klitschko has all the belts, it’s his TV, I think you win broadly.