By Scott Gilfoid: Heavyweight Tyson Fury (22-0, 16 KOs) has pulled out of his fight scheduled for tonight against the tough and dangerous Alexander Ustinov (29-1, 21 KOs) due to his Uncle Hughie suffering an illness and subsequent hospitalization.
Rather than continue on and taking the fight with Ustinov anyway, Fury has decided to pull out of the fight.
As you would expect, fans are shocked, confused, suspicious and angry at Fury pulling out of the fight. Some fans think the worst, believing Fury pulling out of the fight to avoid a dangerous opponent in Ustinov. Fury is obviously going to be slammed by fans over this withdrawal, especially given the stick that he gave Dereck Chisora for pulling out of his own fight due to an injury.
This is obviously disappointing news to the extreme especially given that Fury was taking on by far the most dangerous opponent of his career in 6’7 ½” Ustinov. After years and years of mismatches involving Fury facing over-matched weak opposition, he was finally facing someone that had a 50-50 chance of beating him. Of course, there are far better heavyweights than Ustinov in the top 15, but he was a decent fringe contender with talent comparable to Fury’s own.
With this fight, you really didn’t know who would have won due to Fury being so flawed in the chin, power and defensive department. The timing of Fury on the verge of facing his first live opponent and him pulling out of the fight is obviously terrible for the fans, especially given that many of these same fans have purchased tickets to see him fight.
Some boxing fans will wonder why Fury couldn’t take the fight anyway, but obviously family comes first with him.
There’s no word whether Fury will attempt to reschedule the fight with Ustinov to a later day. You’d have to think that the fight will be permanently shelved. Fury needs to fight someone in the WBO eliminator bout for him to get a shot at WBO champion Wladimir Klitschko, and Ustinov isn’t ranked in the top 15 by that organization.
The dangerous Andy Ruiz is ranked at #2 by the WBO, but it’s unclear whether Fury would face him in a WBO eliminator. Fury might have to wait for the injured Dereck Chisora, #1 WBO, to heal up before he can fight for the WBO eliminator unless the WBO wants to select another heavyweight for Fury to fight. But none of this really matters now while Fury is dealing with family matters due to his uncle’s illness.
As for tonight’s fight card, middleweights Billy Joe Saunders and Emanuele Blandamura will likely slide upwards to be the main event on the card. Saunders and Blandamura are fighting for the vacant EBU middleweight title. It’s a fight that is basically an even one as well. It actually be an even better scrap than the Fury-Ustinov bout would have been, because that fight had knockout written all over it. The Saunders-Blandamura fight looks like one that will go the distance and be competitive.
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