Tyson Fury recommends boxer who cut his eye for new opportunity sparring Joseph Parker ahead of fight on Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou undercard

23/02/2024 15:21

Joseph Parker has told talkSPORT that Tyson Fury surprisingly recommended Agron Smakici as a sparring partner for him.

This is despite the fact that the little-known Croatian boxer is the man who cut the Gypsy King’s eye with a stray elbow during a session at the start of this month, causing his fight with Oleksandr Usyk to be postponed.

While the undisputed heavyweight world title clash in Riyadh will now have to wait until May 18, Parker’s fight with Zhilei Zhang is full steam ahead for March 8.

The bout for Zhang’s WBO ‘interim’ belt is set to take place on the undercard of Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou, also in Riyadh.

As such, Parker has now arrived in the Saudi city to conclude his training and recruited a couple of Fury’s former sparring partners to join his camp.

Smakici is one of these, with highly rated 19-year-old Brit Moses Itauma the other.

“We spoke to Spencer Brown [Fury’s manager] and we spoke to Tyson and they said these guys gave them the best work – Moses Itauma and Agron,” Parker explained to White and Jordan on talkSPORT on Friday.

“And even though Agron gave Tyson the cut before the fight, he was still giving him good work.

“So we thought we’re gonna keep them out here, bring them in, and carry on the good work that they’ve been giving Tyson and instead give it to me.

“Since we’ve been out here, they’ve been giving us this work.”

It’s clear from this recommendation that Fury does not hold any personal grudge against Smakici for the sparring accident.

Giving his thoughts on conspiracy theories surrounding the situation, Parker continued: “Everyone has an opinion and everyone has a theory as to how it happened or why it happened, but these things happen in boxing.

“It was a freak accident. I think it was the last sparring session and he caught him with an elbow or a punch, whatever it was, and these things happen.

“It’s great to see that the fight’s been rescheduled.

“It’s gonna happen, but it’s just gonna take a bit of time.”