Tyson Fury and his family have arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of the massive undisputed title fight against Oleksandr Usyk on May 18.
The Gypsy King meets the Ukrainian in Riyadh as they bid to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion of the world – after their initial February fight was postponed.
Usyk‘s promoter Alexander Krassyuk had previously revealed fears that Fury will withdraw from the fight – but those concerns appear to have been dispelled by the 35-year-old’s arrival in Saudi Arabia.
Fury posted on Instagram with the caption: ‘Touchdown Riyadh #UNDISPUTED.
‘All roads lead to the #RINGOFFIRE.
Tyson Fury and his family were met with a warm welcome as they arrived in Saudi Arabia
They are in the final fortnight ahead of the unified heavyweight clash against Oleksandr Usyk
Fury’s initial February date for the Usyk fight was postponed following a training injury
Fears that The Gypsy King would flake on the May date too appear to have been unfounded
The winner of the May 18 fight will be the first unified heavyweight champion since 1999
‘T E A M . F U R Y.’
There was also a short video clip tagged: ‘KING OF THE RING RETURNS TO THE KINGDOM!’
Fury arrived with his family, friends, and trainer SugarHill Steward, but there was no sign of his brother Tommy.
After a seven-hour flight from the UK, The Gypsy King and his entourage were welcomed with bouquets of flowers and hot drinks.
The initial clash with Usyk had been scheduled to take place in Riyadh on February 17, but was postponed after Fury sustained an injury during camp.
He suffered a severe cut above his right eye while sparring, which has been labelled by his promotion team as a ‘freak cut’.
Fighters have promised to forfeit $10m (£8m) if they pulled out of the fight.
Last month, Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk has revealed fears Tyson Fury will withdraw from next month’s undisputed world heavyweight title fight.
Krassyuk told Boxing Scene he still has doubts that Fury will step into the ring with Usyk next month, claiming the Gypsy King has already withdrawn four times from the fight.
‘Usyk has actually had a triple camp for this fight,’ Krassyuk said. ‘He started in September for the fight to take place last December.
‘We showed up to the Ngannou fight to step in the ring to announce the fight for the undisputed, but his team jumped and said he didn’t look that good, so Usyk gave him some space to prepare at his camp in Saudi Arabia.
‘We were then meant to fight on Feb. 17, then we were rescheduled for May. Tyson Fury has withdrawn four times already from this fight.
‘I’ve not got too much confidence in the rematch happening, by the way. If Tyson Fury loses, will he have the confidence to step inside the ring again? Theoretically he can, but we all know what happened in the rematch with Wladimir Klitschko.’
Fury is due to face Usyk on May 18 after their world heavyweight title fight was rearranged
They will go head to head on May 18 in Riyadh after Fury’s eye injury delayed it from February
But the Briton appears to have decisively allayed those fears.
Fury looked laser-focused in training footage from last week, as he stepped up preparations for the undisputed heavyweight showdown.
The winner of the highly-anticipated bout will also unify the heavyweight division for the first time since March 1999, when Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield.
