{"id":447532,"date":"2026-01-30T14:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/447532\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T14:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T14:45:09","slug":"tyson-furys-former-sparring-partner-demands-apology-as-british-boxing-star-called-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/447532\/","title":{"rendered":"Tyson Fury’s former sparring partner demands apology as British boxing star called out"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agron Smakici, the Croatian heavyweight who once served as Tyson Fury’s training partner, is seeking an apology from the former two-time world champion following their controversial sparring session.<\/p>\n

The incident occurred ahead of Fury’s originally scheduled undisputed title clash with Oleksandr Usyk in 2024, when Smakici was brought in to help prepare the ‘Gypsy King’ for the bout.<\/p>\n

However, the sparring resulted in Fury sustaining a cut that forced the postponement of the highly anticipated contest just weeks before it was due to take place.<\/p>\n

The wound reopened scar tissue from an injury Fury originally suffered during his 2019 fight against Otto Wallin, a problem that has troubled him repeatedly since.<\/p>\n

Speaking to World Boxing News, Smakici has revisited the notorious training session and rejected suggestions that the damage was inflicted by an elbow rather than a legitimate punch.<\/p>\n

“The memories that we have from sparring. Where I was controlling the sparring from the first round, the second round,” he said.<\/p>\n

The Croatian fighter described how Fury pushed his head down during the exchange, prompting him to respond with increased aggression.<\/p>\n

\"Agron<\/p>\n

Agron Smakici used to spar with Tyson Fury<\/p>\n

| <\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

“He put my head down and pushed my head so when I picked up my head, I started to throw punches even harder,” he said.<\/p>\n

“I rocked him with a couple of shots, and the last shot was with a cut, and they say that it was with an elbow, but it wasn’t, it was a real punch.<\/p>\n

“He didn’t complain about the elbow; he just threw a shot, stopped the sparring, and went out.”<\/p>\n

\"BoxingFive facts about boxing that fans might not know | GBNEWS\/PA<\/p>\n

With Fury now preparing for his ring return, Smakici has expressed his willingness to face his former training partner in an official bout.<\/p>\n

The 21-3 fighter revealed he received an enquiry about potentially meeting Fury in the professional ranks.<\/p>\n

“I got the call from Sky Sports, I’m not sure, and he asked me if I am interested in having a fight with Fury, and I said yes, of course,” he added. “We’ve got something that we didn’t finish, and he owes me an apology.”<\/p>\n

Despite his enthusiasm, a meeting between the two appears improbable.<\/p>\n

Smakici suffered defeat in his most recent contest against Artem Suslenkov in October, and previously lost to heavyweight contender Agit Kabayel in 2023.<\/p>\n

Fury’s path since the sparring incident has been marked by disappointment. <\/p>\n

\"Agron<\/p>\n

Agron Smakici previously sparred with Anthony Joshua, in addition to Tyson Fury<\/p>\n

| INSTAGRAM<\/p>\n

The Briton eventually faced Usyk in May 2024, losing by split decision, before suffering another points defeat in their December rematch.<\/p>\n

Weeks after the second loss, the 37-year-old declared his retirement from boxing, only to swiftly reverse that decision. He is now scheduled to face Russian puncher Arslanbek Makhmudov on 11 April in his UK comeback.<\/p>\n

Fury expressed his excitement when confirming the bout.<\/p>\n

“I’m absolutely psyched, ready today to fight. Come on! The Mac is back. April, UK. I’ve been away four years, I’ve been away for a while but I’m back now,” he enthused.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agron Smakici, the Croatian heavyweight who once served as Tyson Fury’s training partner, is seeking an apology from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,44,13296,588,85],"class_list":["post-447532","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boxing","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxing","tag-news","tag-sgg","tag-sport","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}