Tyson Fury has arrived in Saudi Arabia ahead of his rescheduled undisputed heavyweight championship fight - and had a tense meeting with rivals Anthony Joshua and Francis Ngannou.
The WBC Champion from Morecambe posed for a photo with his fellow heavyweights, as well as football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo who now plays in Saudi Arabia, soon after touching down in Riyadh on Tuesday.
Former world heavyweight champion Joshua will fight former UFC heavyweight king Ngannou in a 10-round boxing match in the Saudi capital on Friday.
Boxing fans have long wanted to see Tyson box his fellow Brit 'AJ' but the fight has never materialised.
However, Fury posted on his social media that he wants to fight the winner of Joshua vs Ngannou after "I smash the rabbit" - referring to WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champ Oleksandr Usyk, his opponent for the undisputed crown.
The Fury-Usyk fight for all four major world boxing belts will now take place on Saturday May 18 in Riyadh.
The hotly-anticipated clash of undefeated champions was postponed from an original February 17 date after the Morecambe man suffered a serious cut above his eye in sparring, which required stitches.
On Friday night, Tyson will be supporting his brother Roman Fury, who will fight on the Joshua-Ngannou 'Knockout Chaos' undercard.
Speaking to Boxing King Media on Wednesday, Roman said that other than posing for pictures, there was "no real interaction" between Fury and Joshua when they met at the home of Turki Alalshikh, Chairman of General Authority for Entertainment in the Middle Eastern country.
"I didn't see no handshake," said the younger Fury.
"They were at one end and the other end, basically. AJ was just keeping himself to himself. Tyson was talking to everyone.
"It's going to be a bit awkward isn't it? Because they're massive rivals and they've all got fights coming up."
He also said there was tension between Fury and Ngannou during the meeting, with Tyson having a go at the Cameroonian over comments he'd made since their fight in October, which Tyson won via close points decision.
"Tyson went straight up to Ngannou and squared up to him. I thought it was a joke but I know when Tyson's serious and yeah, he stuck it on him. It could have kicked off quite easily but thankfully it didn't."
'The Gypsy King' returned to the UK from his training camp in Saudi to spend time with his family in Morecambe, after suffering the cut in early February.
He arrived back at the airport in Riyadh on Tuesday alongside his manager Spencer Brown.
. @Tyson_Fury touches down in Riyadh 🇸🇦#JoshuaNgannou, live worldwide on DAZN on 𝗙𝗥𝗜𝗗𝗔𝗬, March 8. Buy now at https://t.co/FoiaUucafv #KnockoutChaos | #RiyadhSeason
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) March 5, 2024
(Via @Tyson_Fury ) pic.twitter.com/0Gq6SWq8KL
Mr Brown said Tyson was in great shape and the cut was healing well.
"He's at a great weight," said Mr Brown, speaking to The Stomping Ground YouTube channel during a working visit to Thailand with Fury just prior to landing in Saudi Arabia.
"If you look at his eye now it's still a bit red and a bit raw, but we don't want the cold on it. In the heat, it heals a lot better. Since he's been out here, we've noticed a difference in it. It's been good for him.
"He's swimming every day, out in the sun, relaxing. He's running six to eight miles every day.
"We believe Tyson is going to win the fight (with Usyk) and he's going to win it quite convincingly."
A Netflix show 'Battle of the Baddest' documenting Fury's fight with Ngannou last October, debuted on Netflix last week.
The documentary includes footage filmed in Morecambe during the build-up to the bout.
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