By Jake Tiernan: John Fury wants Tyson Fury to sack his trainer SugarHill Steward for denying him when he recently was asked if he’d been training him for Oleksandr Usyk, and he said he hadn’t and he was only working with Lawrence Okolie.
Fans took SugarHill’s comments as proof that WBC heavyweight champion Fury never intended to fight IBF, WBA & WBO champ Usyk on April 29th.
Some fans wonder whether things are going well between SugarHill and Fury because the Krong gym-trained Steward could have said, ‘No comment’ when he was asked whether he’d been training Tyson. If SugarHill didn’t want to expose Fury to criticism, he could not have answered the question.
People believe that Fury wanted no part of fighting the highly skilled, crafty southpaw Usyk, and that’s why he offered him a 70-30 split, which is what mandatory challengers are given, not unified world champions.
“That thing with SugarHill the other day, what was that about? “I’m only here for Okolie.” What was he talking about? When I have seen him training Tyson,” John Fury said to the Metro.
“All of a sudden, he denied him like Judas Iscariot denied Jesus Christ? What the hell was going on there?
“That is a sacking offense. He will be down the road. You’re not going to pass the blame or distance yourself from him. Get rid of them. What was he talking about? When I have seen him training Tyson,” said John Fury about Sugarhill.
John feels that SugarHill should have told the media that he was training Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) for the Usyk fight. If SugarHill wasn’t training Fury, where’s the gain in telling something untrue? How does Sugarhill come out ahead by saying something that didn’t happen?
Would SugarHill get training pay by telling the press that Fury was training when he wasn’t?
It’ll be interesting to see if SugarHill is still with Fury for his next fight. Even without John Fury discussing sacking SugarHill, it wouldn’t be surprising if the two parted ways.
Fury was arguably a better fighter before he teamed up with SugarHill, as he took less punishment, was light on his feet, and had more facets to his game. One can argue that the only thing SugarHill has added to Fury’s game is turning into a mauler who leans on and wrestles his opponents.