Fury's dad headbutts rival in wild pre-fight chaos
Tyson Fury's father headbutted a member of Oleksandr Usyk's entourage in the lobby of the Riyadh Hilton Hotel in Saudi Arabia, ahead of Sunday's fight in the Middle Eastern country.
In vision that quickly spread online, Fury senior was left bleeding from the forehead when he lashed out and had to be restrained.
Members of Usyk's camp yelled their man's name at Fury's entourage as the two teams passed each other, before it turned physical ahead of the pre-fight media day for the undisputed world heavyweight title.
"All I could hear was, 'Usyk, Usyk, Usyk'," Fury senior told media.
"Coming out with all that rubbish. He's in my face, trying to be clever. Coming into my space, 'Usyk, Usyk', nobody's bothering with them. I was only chanting my own son's name."
He added: "I'm going to stand up for my son. At the end of the day, my son is the best in the world and I want people to respect him and give him the credit that he deserves.
"He's the best in the world. And when people start saying this and saying that... when I was among them, all I could hear was madness. Some little idiot came forward in my space, he got what he got and that's the end of it."
Fury senior was heard yelling, "We live for blood and guts" before issuing an apology moments later, telling Seconds Out: "Sincere apologies to everyone involved. It's just the way we are. Emotions and tensions are running high.
"He was a very disrespectful fella. If you come close in a fighting man's space, you're gonna cop for something. What matters to me is respect for my son and he wasn't showing any of it. He mentioned my son and that was it, so he had to have it.
Team Fury pose for pictures.
'It doesn't bother me [bleeding], it's what we live for, we're fighting people."
Usyk's promoter Alex Krassyuk said he initially apologised for the actions of the team, but then took a look at the vision.
"I apologised because I thought initially that one of our guys hit John, but then I saw the video and saw it was vice versa," Krassyuk said.
"So do I take my apology back because it was his misbehaviour? He has to apologise because this does not give a good impression about us to the rest of the world. It's up to him.
"Usyk's team and Fury's team are fighters. It wouldn't be good if it got out of control. Usyk would say, 'Don't touch my guys, they are dangerous'."
Tyson Fury said he missed the fracas after speaking in another room.
"I didn't see anything, I was in the room doing interviews. But I'm not here for all that, I'm here to get the job done and go home and rest," the heavyweight said.
It's understood authorities in Saudi Arabia will not lay charges and no further action will be taken at this stage.