Oleksander Usyk insisted he still loves his old friend Tyson FuryCredit: Reuters

The cut that forced the fight to be postponedCredit: X @Queensbury

The horror injury required over ten stitches to mend and backdated the undisputed title bout to May 18.

Usyk missed the birth of his fourth child – baby daughter Maria – due to be locked away in his Valencia training camp.

But when speaking out in Spain following the rescheduling of his fight with Fury, he refused to show any ill will towards his rival and claimed he loved him even more.

Usyk said: “Of course, more. Why? Because it’s the man who has my fourth belt. It’s the man who helped me become famous a lot.

“Because we, all people, must love friends, [people who are] not friends, acquaintances, all people. It’s great when you are polite, not dirty.”

Usyk was in the middle of a sparring session himself when he heard of the devastating news.

But he refused to be fazed and revealed his ice-cool reaction to the cancelation.

Usyk said: “I didn’t even have any irritation inside. No frustration.

“I just looked back at all the work I’ve done – getting up early, jogging, swimming, sparring, the amount of all it, and I thought to myself: ‘Wow, that’s some good work I did.’

“Then I thought of how much more training I will do and how much good work I will do.

“So when, with God’s help, I will finish all this work, I’ll be able to box three Tyson Furys.”