Oleksandr Usyk has dismissed sparring partner Martin Bakole's claim he dropped him ahead of his fight with Tyson Fury.
The Ukrainian is expected to next take on WBC king Fury on April 29 at Wembley Stadium after the pair verbally agreed a deal following a lengthy stand-off during negotiations. Usyk will look to become the undisputed champion by adding the final belt to his collection after beating Anthony Joshua twice, and he has already began training camp despite no official fight confirmation.
Usyk previously drafted in heavyweight contender Bakole to prepare for his rematch with Joshua which he won by split decision, boxing his way to another step to supremacy. However the Congolese star has since insisted he became the first man to stop the unified champion in sparring.
However the 36-year-old's manager Alex Krassyuk has suggested that events actually were the other way around with Usyk prevented from inflicting further damage on Bakole. "Bakole is a great kid," Krassyuk told Sky Sports. "He was Usyk's best sparring partner within last three training camps. But I heard him stopping Usyk just once, and he stopped him from knocking Bakole out."
Usyk has yet to be stopped in his professional career during which he has had huge success by first becoming undisputed champion at cruiserweight. He then elected to move up to the heavyweight division, where he defeated Derek Chisora before dethroning Joshua and beating him in a subsequent rematch.
Talks have been held extensively over arguably the biggest test of his career against fellow undefeated champion Fury, but an official date is yet to be announced, However the pair finally made a breakthrough this week after Usyk agreed to a 70/30 split in his rival's favour which sees a fight now back on track.
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Despite having a wealth of experience, Usyk has admitted he will change his strategy in training to prepare for Fury given his far superior range and size. Speaking on The Overlap in partnership with Sky Bet, Usyk said: "There will be changes in the strategy for the fight against Tyson, but I’ll continue to prepare in the same way. I’ll do lots of training, swimming, running, and boxing.
"There will be new workouts [as well], because Tyson is slightly different. He is big and tall, so his combinations and boxing style will be different. If a person is bigger than me, it doesn’t mean that they’re stronger. If they have longer arms, it doesn’t mean that it will be an advantage. I’ve been boxing since I was 15 years old.
"I’ve heard many opinions from people that I know well, and from people who I’ve met just once. They kept telling me that I shouldn’t box, they told me I wouldn’t become an Olympic champion, or a world champion, and that I shouldn’t have switched to the heavyweight division. Personally, I keep praying and move forward."
