Tyson Fury doesn’t throw a punch at open workouts as his trainer hints at absentee in corner

Tyson Fury didn’t throw a punch at tonight’s open workouts in Riyadh ahead of Saturday’s rematch with world heavyweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. Instead, he repeatedly mouthed the words “pain” and “damage”, then disappeared, but attempting to read too much into Fury, or indeed these promotional workouts, is largely pointless.

Usyk then appeared on a boat with the theme from Titanic soundtracking his entrance. He was a tad livelier in his workout. When asked about Fury’s ‘performance’ he said, “Okay”.

Fury’s trainer, Sugarhill Steward chuckled when he was questioned.

“It was a little workout, we gave it our best,” Steward said, underlining how little all involved care for this section of the promotional duties. “Tyson Fury is just ready right now, along with myself. He’s always had a silly demeanor and playing around, but this is a different side of him. He’s just ready, 100 per cent ready.”

Trainers and fighters rarely stray below “100 per cent” when discussing how ready they are before a big fight. Sometimes they go as high as “110 per cent”, and even “a million per cent” has been known but, again, not a lot to read here.

The absence of Fury’s father, which has long been presumed was today all but confirmed by Steward when he said the Tyson corner would consist of just himself, “Andy Lee and the cutman”.

During the points loss to Usyk in May, Fury found himself being bombarded with advice. Though never used as an excuse, it would appear – presuming the cutman isn’t John Fury – the Englishman has taken steps to avoid such chaos again.