Michael Bisping calls John Fury's headbutt 'an embarrassment'

05/14/2024 10:25 AM

Fight week for the Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk boxing match kicked off on Monday with John Fury head butting a member of Usyk's team.  The incident caused a cut on the older Fury's forehead.  

Former UFC middleweight champion and commentator Michael Bisping reacted to the incident and criticized Fury's father for trying to steal the spotlight every chance he gets.  

"It's the beginning of fight week between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, the Gypsy King, the first undisputed title fight to go down in 25 years," Bisping said on his YouTube channel.  "This is a monumental boxing event, and I can not wait for it. Any boxing fans, any purists, any casuals, anyone that loves combat sports is looking forward to this fight."

"You've probably seen it by now.  At the fighter hotel, it looked like it was the hotel, Team Fury and Team Usyk, they come head to head.  They're talking.  They're chanting.  All their entourages and cornermen and people like that, their trainers and their fans were having a bit of a shouting match.  They're having a bit of a cheering match," Bisping continued.  "That's all well and good.  You're allowed to be passionate.  You're allowed to be a strong supporter, and you can have a bit of fun and games with it.  Sometimes it goes a bit too far, but there's no need to start assaulting people.  That's essentially what John Fury did."  

John Fury regularly inserts himself into the storyline when his son fights.  Bisping believes that he seeks to steal the spotlight.  

"It's just a bit of an embarrassment," Bisping said.  "When you start head butting people and assaulting people, there's no place for that.  And this isn't even the fighters.  It's not even Tyson Fury and Usyk that's doing this.  If it was them doing that, that would hype the fight, and this fight doesn't need hyping.  It doesn't need the extra bulls*t that goes along with it because this sells itself.  It's the first undisputed heavyweight title fight in 25 years.  The last time we saw that was Lennox Lewis versus Evander Holyfield.  This is a monumental, historic fight that doesn't need any bullish*t.

"John Fury, I don't want to say this but it's kind of true, he's going to try to steal the limelight.  He's going to insert himself into it at all times.  Every time Tyson fights, John Fury is there.  When [Francis] Ngannou and Fury were squaring off, he's there.  He's got his shirt off.  He's involved.  'No man alive' and all this type of sh*t.  Jesus Christ, take a backseat and let your son have the spotlight."

"There's a line, man, and you don't really cross it like that.  This is a huge moment for Tyson Fury.  If he can go out there and beat Usyk, be the first person to do so, the first person to unify the belts in 25 years.  Don't tarnish that by acting like a dickhead all fight week.  I mean, it's the first day of fight week and he's already head butting people."