Jay Opetaia, who sparred with Tyson Fury earlier this year, has uttered an 'absolute lie' that he was forced to leave the Gypsy King's training camp after defeating Tyson Fury in sparring. Threw away.
Fury is currently in the spotlight ahead of his juicy showdown with Oleksandr Usyk on May 18th.
Earlier this year, Opetaia sparred with Fury.
And it was previously claimed that he left camp early because he beat the 35-year-old.
Boxing: Tyson Fury is currently preparing for his big fight against Oleksandr Usyk on May 18th
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However, Opetaia has now vehemently refuted claims that was the reason for his departure, insisting he was leaving to prepare for his own fight against Mairis Briedis on the undercard of the Fury-Usyk fight.
In an interview with Seconds Out he said:
“I'm so grateful to have been called to that camp to be surrounded by other champions and world-class athletes, but it's great to be at their camp for a week and see how they do things. It's a whole different learning curve to see a little bit.
“Everything was positive. He earned my respect and I'm sure he earned my respect as well.
“I was there for a week.
“If we weren't fighting on the same card, we would have fought for a lot longer.
“I'm fighting Bridis, but I'm not fighting a 6-foot-9 guy, so it didn't make a lot of sense to stay there, so I needed some orthodox sparring.
“I thought it would be wise to go home and finish camp, so I did.”
Asked about rumors that he had beaten Fury to the ground, he added:
“It's annoying when reporters spread absolute lies.”
This isn't the first time Fury insiders have had to debunk this rumor.
His brother Shane called the claims unfounded when they first emerged in February.
Speaking to Boxing King Media, he was furious: [Opetaia] No one has ever dropped it.
“If he punched Tyson, you'd say, 'Yeah, he's a very good guy, anyway' — let's be honest.
“If Tyson did the same thing to him, I wouldn't say anything – it's a spar thing.
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Boxing: Jay Opetaia exposes 'absolute lie' that he dropped Tyson Fury in sparring
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“A lot of trash – that obviously never happened, it just didn’t happen.
“But people believe exactly what they want to believe. If you say anything even slightly negative, they can lose perspective on you. I think that's the business.”
“These people, if they're producing 100 videos a month, 85 of them are away from Tyson and are negative.”
Shane further claimed that no one had been able to take Fury down in sparring, saying, “At no point during the entire sparring was Tyson dominated.
“He went there and was tired at times. You don't feel like yourself every day in training. If that's the case, you're not training hard enough.”
Boxing: Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk face off on May 18th with a lot at stake
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“Even in his tiring moments, he never felt dominated or overwhelmed. Never.
“About my sparring partners – listen, he’s had some really good sparring – Moses (Itauma), just unbelievable, he’s an unbelievable talent, he just turned 19 – he I've had a few fights with him. It was a very good sparring match for Tyson.”
“But as far as Tyson getting hit and dropped by someone.
“Tyson has never been dropped in sparring. He looks like he has a glass jaw in the ring, but he's never been dropped in sparring.”
