Tyson Fury 'thrust crotch' at sparring partner before being cut and pulling out of Usyk fight

Tyson Fury had to withdraw from his fight with Oleksandr Usyk after a training prank went wrong. Fury was pretending to thrust his crotch at his sparring partner, Agron Smakici, when he got cut by the Croatian and had to pull out of his fight with Usyk.

Fury was set to fight Usyk this Saturday in Saudi Arabia but had to withdraw after getting a cut above his right eye during training. Smakici has now shared that Fury was joking around during their training session and believes he gained Fury's respect after accidentally landing an elbow that required 11 stitches.

"He did it but it was a joke and I didn't take it seriously, I was not angry, because he was laughing, he is funny. He is a comedian. "Yes it made me a little more serious, it made me want to show him what I had. It was a clean punch and the elbow was not on purpose, I was just trying to give him better rounds and to show him that I deserved respect," Smakici told The Sun.

"I earned that respect in the sparring and afterwards he said 'great sparring, accidents happen, everything before was great'. Crazy things like this happen in boxing. "He made jokes like 'let's go little sausage' but he was very motivated, dancing in the ring and using his reach a lot."

Smakici has said that despite the cancellation of the undisputed fight, Fury's team weren't upset with him. He wants to help Fury get ready for the rescheduled match on May 18. Most of their training sessions were in the evening, but Smakici was puzzled by a sudden switch to morning sparring.

"I felt the spar was too early," Smakici added. "That's just my opinion. We had been training in the evenings, around 8-9pm, to be ready for the fight. But suddenly we were training at midday and still having breakfast at