Tyson Fury BANS talkSPORT from covering his clash with Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia – and all of his fights – after they suggested he was ‘ducking’ a unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk… back in March!
- Tyson Fury is set to face Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on Saturday
- talkSPORT have been blocked by the Fury camp from covering the fight
- LISTEN: Exclusive Tyson Fury interview on THE HOOK – our new boxing podcast
Tyson Fury has banned talkSPORT from covering all of his fights after the broadcaster suggested the Gypsy King had ducked a unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk earlier this year.
Fury is set to face Francis Ngannou this weekend in Saudi Arabia in a showdown being dubbed as the ‘Battle of the Baddest’.
The heavyweight world champion confirmed he would face the former UFC star in July.
Confirmation came after the collapse of talks between Fury and Oleksandr Usyk over a heavyweight unification bout.
Fury had hit out at Simon Jordan in March, after the talkSPORT host appeared suggest his demands were the reason for the collapse in negotiations.
talkSPORT have been banned from covering Tyson Fury’s upcoming fights
The broadcaster will be unable to cover Fury’s fight with Francis Ngannou this weekend
talkSPORT host Simon Jordan has defended their coverage of Fury over recent years
Shane Fury told Boxing King Media that Jordan and talkSPORT will be blocked from covering his brother’s fights as a result.
This would include the proposed unification bout with Usyk, which promoters are hoping to stage on December 23.
‘When you try and earn a living off someone, you have to be half sensible,’ Fury said.
‘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.’
Jordan responded to news of the ban on talkSPORT, insisting that he remains a ‘big fan of Fury’ and understood there were ‘difficulties in making that fight’.
He admitted Fury was right to pull him up on his previous comment that it would be ‘shameful if he ducks Usyk’, have later insisted that the heavyweight star ‘ain’t ducking anybody’.
Fury had reportedly been angered by claims he had ‘ducked’ Oleksandr Usyk, pictured
Jordan said he was ‘disappointed’ by the decision to ban talkSPORT from all Fury fights, but admitted he did not want to cover his crossover fight with Ngannou.
‘It’s Fury-Ngannou week and I understand we – talkSPORT en masse – are persona non grata, we are not wanted,’ Jordan said on talkSPORT.
‘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 insisted that Fury was within his rights to ban talkSPORT from his fights, criticising the broadcaster for ‘negativity’.
‘Do I think it is fair,’ Warren told Boxing Social.
‘Let’s put it into the reasons why, because of the negativity and so forth that came from them.
Promoter Frank Warren insists the ban is justified after ‘negativity’ from talkSPORT presenters
‘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.’
Boxing journalist and broadcaster Gareth A. Davies suggested the way comments were made about the collapse of talks between Fury and Usyk may have contributed to the decision.
‘I think it is not what you do, but the way that you do it,’ he said.
‘It is not what you say, but the way that you say it and they have been sensitive about it.
‘They have taken their decision and they will stand by it, it is what it is.
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