Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk is off.
On Friday, Sports Illustrated reported that Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) has been forced to withdraw from the highly anticipated Feb. 17 heavyweight championship bout after suffering a cut in training, citing Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas.
The fight, set to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, was arranged to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion, with Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) holding the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles, and Fury holding the WBC title.
Fury and Usyk have been in talks to face one another for the past few years, and the path became clear after Fury narrowly escaped an upset loss to Francis Ngannou this past October, while Usyk is coming off of a successful title defense against Daniel Dubois.
Neither fighter has commented publicly on the status of the bout yet and it is not yet known if their are plans to reschedule the matchup for a later date.
This story originally appeared on MMA fighting