Reigning heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury has taken a bold step by prohibiting talkSPORT from covering his matches. This move comes in response to the outlet’s insinuation that Fury had avoided a unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk earlier this year.
This weekend in Saudi Arabia, the world anticipates the epic showdown between Tyson Fury and former UFC star Francis Ngannou. This match has been aptly titled the ‘Battle of the Baddest’.
The confirmation of Fury’s match against Ngannou followed the collapse of talks between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk regarding a heavyweight unification bout. This breakdown led to a public exchange, with Fury expressing his frustration at Simon Jordan from talkSPORT as he seemed to imply that Fury’s demands were the stumbling block.
Shane Fury conveyed to Boxing King Media that as a consequence of this incident, talkSPORT and Simon Jordan would be barred from covering Tyson’s matches. This also includes the proposed unification bout with Usyk, which promoters are eyeing for December 23.
Addressing the situation, Shane Fury remarked: “When you try and earn a living off someone, you have to be half sensible. talkSPORT and Simon Jordan will never have anything to do with Tyson again.”
“The biggest fight in history is coming up and he might have done 100,000 views on some stupidness that he’s said, it is what it is. I’m sure he will do something else, but he won’t be working with Tyson.”
In response to the ban, Simon Jordan emphasized his continued admiration for Fury and acknowledged the complexities in arranging the Usyk match. He admitted that Fury was justified in addressing his previous comment but clarified that he never meant to insinuate that Fury was avoiding any opponent.
Jordan stated on talkSPORT: “It’s Fury-Ngannou week and I understand we – talkSPORT en masse – are persona non grata, we are not wanted. All of a sudden, we are banned. And I really wanted to go to the Ngannou fight as well.”
“I’m disappointed. Shane Fury was saying, ‘talKSPORT are going to be banned’. Well, fine, if that’s what you want to do. You can ban me from a fight I didn’t want to go to.”
“I’m sure they’ll weaponise it and say, ‘We’re going to do it when we fight Usyk as well.'”
Promoter Frank Warren voiced his support for Fury’s decision, criticizing talkSPORT for their negativity.
He told Boxing Social: “Do I think it is fair. Let’s put it into the reasons why, because of the negativity and so forth that came from them. The bottom line of it was there were presenters on there who said they would not watch the fight, they had no interest in the fight, so, its no loss then is it.”