Ruling made on Tyson Fury’s beard after Oleksandr Usyk’s team raise concern

Tyson Fury will reportedly not have to trim his beard for his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk this weekend.

Fury, who claimed he cut himself off from his family during an intense training camp, has sported a long beard this week, as he aims to avenge his sole professional loss – a split decision against Usyk in May. That result kept Usyk unbeaten and saw him crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years.

And ahead of Saturday’s second meeting in Riyadh, where Usyk defends the unified belts this time, the Ukrainian flagged Fury’s beard as a potential concern.

“It is interesting,” Sky Sports’s Andy Scott said on Friday (20 December). “[Fury] is calling it ‘beast mode’, it’s very much a camp mentality; he’s grown out the beard [in] a hard training camp.

“During the discussions, it was flagged by team Usyk. ‘Will Tyson Fury be required to trim that beard?’, presumably because it acts as a cushion.

“The commission ruled ‘no’, because – as it is – there are no specified rules. They want a trim and neat beard, so they don’t want a sharp beard that you could use to rub on your [opponent’s] face and aggravate a cut, and obviously they don’t want something that is too extreme.

“But they were quite happy with that beard, and this is not stating the obvious but: it’s not gonna grow [much] overnight! So, it is a relief that it isn’t gonna become a talking point, but it is worth flagging.”

However, Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk told The Independent: “Beard rule is grossly violated, so Tyson’s beard has to be trimmed. We will push it further.”

Krassyuk also highlighted the WBC’s rules, specifically: “A boxer may [sport] a trimmed beard and/or moustache as long as, [at] the discretion 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) cause cuts or abrasions to his rival.”

Fury, 36, has alternated between being clean shaven and sporting a beard in recent years. In his first fight with Usyk, 37, he was clean shaven, while he had a shorter beard against Francis Ngannou last October.

Arguably his thickest beard to date was on display during his trilogy fight with Deontay Wilder in 2021, when the Briton stopped his rival for the second time in three fights – after they initially drew in 2018.