Fury was cut by MMA fighter who spares Anthony Joshua and 'NOT FEELS bad'

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THE sparring partner who cut Tyson Fury and postponed his uncontested showdown with Oleksandr Usyk has broken his silence.

The biggest heavyweight fight in more than a quarter of a century was postponed this week after Fury suffered a horror cut during one of his final sparring sessions.

Tyson Fury's historic showdown with Oleksandr Usyk was postponed this weekCredit: GETTY

A massive cut to the forehead over Fury's right eye forced the fight to be postponedCredit: QUEENSBERRY PROMOTIONS

Fury suffered the gaping wound in one of his last spars before the fight

Croatian heavyweight Agron Smakici has made the cut to Fury but doesn't feel 'bad' about itCredit: GETTY

Fury, 35, had scar tissue left over from the nasty cut he suffered during his 2019 Las Vegas showdown with Swedish slugger Otto Wallin reopened in the ill-fated spar.

Footage of the incident showed that an accidental elbow was the cause of the costly cut, which required as many as 15 stitches.

But the man responsible for postponing the first-ever undisputed heavyweight showdown of the four-belt era has no regrets about his actions.

Multiple sources have confirmed to SunSport that Croatian heavyweight Agron Smakici was the sparring partner who finished Fury.

But the 6ft tall giant – who is also a mixed martial artist – insists it was his left hand, not his left elbow, that cut the forehead of Fury's eye.

According to Boxing ConversationSmakici said of the incident: “It was a clear blow, so I don't feel bad.”

Smakici was a recent addition to Fury's roster of sparring partners, which initially included former IBF cruiserweight champion Jai Opetaia and undefeated British heavyweight Moses Itauma.

His joining the camp was no surprise given his experience sparring with top heavyweights, including Fury's British rival Anthony Joshua.

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Argon Smakici is a two-time sparring partner of Tyson Fury's British rival Anthony JoshuaCredit: Instagram @agron_smakici

Smakici helped AJ prepare for his recent clash with Otto Wallin and his rematch with UsykCredit: INSTAGRAM@AGRON_SMAKICI

The slick southpaw was recently called up by Team AJ to help the former two-time unified heavyweight champion prepare for his 'Day of Reckoning' clash with Wallin.

And he was also one of Joshua's main sparring partners for his rematch with Usyk in August 2022.

Smakici, 33, posted a series of photos of himself and AJ to his Instagram prior to the fight with the accompanying caption: “Helping AJ for next one fight.”

WBC heavyweight champion Fury needs at least “90 DAYS“to recover from the horror cut before he can resume full sparring.

His cutman Jorge Capetillo told Betway: “I would say it will take at least 90 days to recover from a sparring cutback.

“Hopefully the fight can take place in the summer because it's such a shame news.

What does this mean for boxing?

The saddest part is that this didn't really come as a surprise to the British boxing media, writes SunSport's boxing correspondent Wally Downes.

Rumors of Fury struggling to spar with cruiserweight King Jai Opetaia and teenage sensation Moses Itauma were rife.

It seemed unlikely that the Gypsy King would risk upsetting Turki Alalshikh and the Saudi paymaster.

But now disaster has officially struck.

As recently as Friday afternoon, SunSport was invited to Usyk's secret European camp for a media day on February 6.

And there was the release of the mega-money promo that mashed together about eight Hollywood films and cost a ridiculous million pounds.

If it's just a cut, there's a chance Fury could be back in a few weeks.

But we saw with Otto Wallin that he is vulnerable to a hemorrhage that took months to recover.

When Fury was dropped in October and was useless against Francis Ngannou – delaying the original undisputed decider – the money men behind the scenes created an incredible replacement with AJ vs Wallin.

And they could do something really crazy now to compensate for this.

“The cut has to heal really well and then Tyson can get back into action, back into training and back into camp, so it will definitely take a few more months.

“Accidents can happen in sparring, and this is what happened to Tyson, so he will need time to heal.

“It will now reopen during the fight if they push the fight, so now he needs a timeout to make sure it doesn't open with a first punch from Oleksandr Usyk.

“Obviously during camp sparring sessions, when you're getting ready for a fight of this caliber, it means bringing the best sparring partners you can and working hard while sparring, but sometimes it's very tough and things like this can happen .

“We always try to avoid that and make sure the fighter has a healthy camp, but this is part of the game.

“This is a fight that requires the best of the best, with the best sparring partners.

Tyson Fury's cutman says his horror wound will take at least '90 days' to healCredit: EPA

“If a cut happens from a punch, the opponent could get a TKO if the fight is stopped, so all those kinds of things are important to take precautions.

“I know how hard Tyson worked for this fight. His work ethic, his discipline, he worked really hard as always and was so hungry for this fight.

“But these things happen and cuts happen.”

Uysk, 37, has yet to break his silence on the postponement of the biggest fight of his career but is still training to fight on February 17.

But his manager has sensationally claimed Fury was deliberately injured so he could pull out of the fight.

Egis Klimas told Ring Magazine: “Fury is a coward who will do anything not to face Usyk.

“And he asked his bitch to hit him in the forehead with a frying pan.

“You can quote me word for word for that.”