A viral video of undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk has many convinced he’s faking his foot injury.
In an August 14 interview, Queensberry Promotions founder and head promoter Frank Warren revealed a disappointing update about the fight negotiations between undisputed heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and Joseph Parker, who Warren promotes.
“[Usyk] put a letter in yesterday stating that he’s asked him for an extension period, because he’s injured, before being ordered to do anything,” Warren told Sky Sports News. “Whatever happens, the fact of life is Joseph Parker will either fight as champion if Usyk vacates or he will fight Usyk for the title.”
Since this announcement, it came out that Usyk was reportedly dealing with a foot injury, which was the cause of his having to delay the fight against Parker.
However, given that there hasn’t been any additional information about the nature of Usyk’s injury, some have claimed that Usyk is more likely to be fabricating this injury to allow himself more rest and a bigger break, given that he fought Daniel Dubois last month.
Gasoline has been poured onto the fire over claims regarding Usyk potentially faking his foot injury after a video surfaced on social media of the heavyweight champion dancing. In the video, not only is Usyk not limping or favoring either of his feet, but he’s moving extremely swift of foot, showing no signs of injury.
In the comments to this post, several fans are calling Usyk out for faking his foot injury.
“@usykaa thought you were injured or avoiding @joeboxerparker,” @briddick_g6713 wrote.
“I thought he was injured 
,” another fan added.
“Definitely injured,” added @ceo_boxing7.
Joseph Parker’s Manager Calls Usyk Out Amid Dancing Video
This video also caught the attention of Parker’s manager, David Higgins, who spoke about his feelings regarding Usyk’s dancing during an August 28 interview with Sky Sports.
“I haven’t actually seen the medical evidence but you would think that a serious injury would prevent that sort of activity,” Higgins said of the video. He later added, “As far as I’m concerned, things are exactly as they were,” said Higgins. “In boxing, nothing surprises me.”
While Higgins is within his rights to be frustrated on behalf of his client, many boxing fans don’t care whether Usyk is coming up with excuses to delay his return to the ring. Given all that he has already given to the sport, these fans believe Usyk has earned the right to return whenever he wants, against whoever he wants.
In other words, they don’t care if the foot injury is fake.
Sports Illustrated
