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Mike Coppinger, ESPN Boxing Insider
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Oleksandr Usyk’s team requested the Middle East Professional Boxing Commission at Friday’s rules meeting to mandate that Tyson Fury trim his burly beard ahead of Saturday’s unified heavyweight championship rematch, sources told ESPN.
Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) was clean shaven in May when he was floored in Round 9 and lost a split decision to Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) for the undisputed heavyweight championship in Riyadh.
Throughout fight week, the 36-year-old has sported an unruly beard. The WBC, WBA and WBO titles are on the line. WBC championship fight rules state that “a boxer may spouse a trimmed beard … as long as, in the direction of the commission and the supervisor, the facial hair thickness does not: 1) cushion or in any way affect the impact or trajectory of punches; or 2) cut cuts or abrasions to his rival.”
WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman told ESPN on Saturday via text, “the rules state that the local commission and WBC supervisor to inspect. At the rules meeting I conferred to the commission. I did inspect Fury and there is no issue from our side.”
ESPN reviewed a copy of the rules signed by representatives for both Usyk and Fury. The commission told a representative for Usyk on Saturday morning, per source, that it would indeed ask Fury to trim the beard.
Jose Mohan, president of the Middle East Professional Boxing Commission, declined comment, as did representatives for Fury and Usyk.
There’s a long history of controversy surrounding beards in boxing. In 2005, James Toney’s team requested that the New York State Athletic commission have John Ruiz trim his beard ahead of their heavyweight title fight.
Ruiz trimmed the beard before the commission made him and the bout proceeded. Toney won a decision but the result was later overturned to a no contest after he tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug.
In 2017, Gennadiy Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez, asked the Nevada State Athletic Commission to have Canelo Alvarez trim his beard. That commission has a quarter of an inch limit on facial hair length. It had no issues with Alvarez’s beard.
“It’s a little bit longer than it should be,” Sanchez told this reporter at the time. “It’s very rough on an opponent. I left it up to the commission. I voiced my displeasure. I’ve never had somebody with a beard in a fight, at least not to that length. “One- or two-day stubble, everybody does that. They’re concentrating on boxing and maybe don’t shave for a couple days, but [Canelo’s beard], that’s not a couple days. It could rough his face up, they’ll be fighting on the inside. There’s no reason for it to be there.”
Ukraine’s Usyk, 37, is ESPN’s No. 1 pound-for-pound boxer. England’s Fury, 36, is ESPN’s No. 2 heavyweight.