Oleksandr Usyk took an unsubtle shot at John Fury, sharing a photo of the WBC title belt draped over the shoulder of Stanislav Stepchuk, who John headbutted.
Oleksandr Usyk reignited the beef between his team and John Fury with an unsubtle dig directed at the 69-year-old. On the heels of his split-decision win over Tyson Fury, the Ukrainian shared a photo of the WBC heavyweight world title belt draped over the shoulder of Stanislav Stepchuk – a member of his team who John headbutted.
Last weekend, Usyk was crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the world since 1999 by defeating Fury. The back-and-forth heavyweight title fight went to the judges scorecards, with two officials scoring the bout 115-112 and 114-113 in favour of Usyk, while another gave it to Fury, 114-113.
On the heels of his hard-fought victory, Usyk celebrated the win alongside Stepchuk, sharing a snap of his teammate posing with the WBC belt. The post quickly caught the attention of fans, who viewed it as a direct shot at John. “Stanislav got the last laugh,” one X user wrote, with another adding: “The guy that beat John Fury without doing anything.”
Ahead of the highly anticipated fight between Usyk and Fury, tensions boiled over behind the scenes between both fighters’ teams. During a heated confrontation with both sides, John headbutted Stepchuk, resulting in a small cut on his forehead.
Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision (Image: Getty)
Following the incident, John apologised for his actions, conceding that he got carried away in the heat of the moment. “Sincere apologies to everybody involved. It’s just the way we are,” he said. “Emotions and tensions are running high. He was a very disrespectful fella. If you come close in a fighting man’s space, you’re gonna cop for something.
“What matters to me is respect for my son and he wasn’t showing any of it. He mentioned my son and that was it, so he had to have it. It doesn’t bother me [bleeding], it’s what we live for, we’re fighting people. That’s a regular occurrence to me.”
John’s sudden outburst appeared to have taken Stepchuk by surprise. While sporting a small cut over his eye, he told Seconds Out: “I was just supporting my team and shouting Usyk. I didn’t touch him [John], he just lost it. We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. Read our Privacy Policy
John Fury apologised for head butting Stepchuk (Image: Getty)
“If just hearing Usyk’s name gets him so angry, what will happen in five days?” Stepchuk continued. “He seems to think that there’s disrespect in just shouting Usyk’s name, so maybe he’s a bit unhinged.”
John received further backlash after the fight, with many fans online alleging his poor coaching was the reason why Fury lost the fight. While in his son’s corner in between Rounds 11 and 12, he implored him not to make any mistakes, asserting: “One round to undisputed.”
Later on, Fury reaffirmed that his team incorrectly told him that he’d done enough in the 12 rounds to win. “It was a close fight but I thought I did enough,” he said during the post-fight press conference. “I’m not a judge and I can’t judge a fight while I’m boxing it.
“If they’d said to me before the last round that I was down I would have gone and tried to finish it but everyone in the corner believed we were up. All I had to do was just keep boxing and keep doing what I was doing and I was getting it.”
