Tyson Fury's brother breaks silence on Jai Opetaia sparring rumours before Oleksandr Usyk fight

Tyson Fury's brother, Shane, has set the record straight on what happened in the Gypsy King's training camp before the Oleksandr Usyk fight.

There were whispers that Jai Opetaia, the cruiserweight world champion, dropped Fury in sparring. It seemed that Opetaia would be the ideal preparation partner for Fury, given Usyk's previous success in the cruiserweight division.

Opetaia left the fight camp after spending just five rounds sparring with the undefeated heavyweight world champion. But Opetaia's exit has since been attributed to the 28-year-old getting ready to prepare for his own fight against Mairis Briedis.

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Shane Fury has now addressed the rumours, telling Boxing King Media: "I can assure you that he [Jai] never dropped anyone, whether Tyson beat him up or didn't beat him up or vice versa.

"Listen, it’s a load of rubbish, that obviously never happened but people will believe what they want to believe. Any little bit of negativity, they can get views off of it and I suppose that it is the business but with these people, if they are doing 100 videos a month, 85 of them is of Tyson. Negative-ness.

"Tyson has never, ever been dropped in sparring, ever. He looks like he has got a f***ing glass chin in the ring but never in sparring has he ever been dropped. I'm sure he will have seen blue flashes and whatever, but I've never seen him hurt or wobbled or dropped."

Fury is currently healing before his rescheduled fight against Usyk on May 18 in Saudi Arabia.