Usyk's team calls for Fury to trim beard before title rematch

Oleksandr Usyk's team asked the Middle East Professional Boxing Commission on Friday to make Tyson Fury trim his beard before Saturday's unified heavyweight championship rematch in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, according to Mike Coppinger of ESPN.

However, Fury's manager, Spencer Brown, said the fighter will not trim his facial hair.

"Tyson Fury has boxed with a beard on many occasions as do other fighters, most recently (Artur) Beterbiev," Brown said, per Coppinger. "Usyk himself has come out publicly and said Tyson having a beard is no problem. There is no law or ruling in boxing to say you can't fight with a beard.

"It's ridiculous that this has already been brought up in a rules meeting to no avail. Simply put, if Usyk had a beard we would have no issue. This is not a fashion show, it's boxing."

The WBC's rules state "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," Coppinger notes.

WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman doesn't see an issue with Fury's facial hair.

"The rules state that the local commission and WBC supervisor to inspect," Sulaiman said, according to Coppinger. "At the rules meeting I conferred to the commission. I did inspect Fury and there is no issue from our side."

Usyk's team was told by the commission that it would ask Fury to trim the beard.

Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) beat a clean-shaven Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) via split decision in May to become the undisputed heavyweight champion.