Ben Davison is Tyson Fury’s former trainer. But there’s nothing former about the friendship, he says.
Davison repeated that his friendship with Fury is as strong as ever in the wake of their surprising split last month before the Feb. 22 rematch with Deontay Wilder on Fox/ESPN+ pay-per-view was formally announced late last month.
“We had a working relationship,’’ Davison told iFL TV. “We don’t have a working relationship now. But I think everybody knew that we had a friendship and the friendship remains.’’
Fury caused a stir Monday at a news conference in Los Angeles when he said he was looking to knock out Wilder in two rounds at Las Vegas’ MGM Grand.
“If I wasn’t, I would have kept Ben Davison,’’ Fury said. “I’m sick of points decisions. I’ve had plenty, but I’m looking to knock him out.”
In firing Davison and hiring SugarHill Steward, Fury hopes to work on his power. Steward, a student of Kronk Gym’s late Emanuel Steward, comes from the Kronk’s school of power punching. In Los Angeles, Fury, who said he believed he could not win a decision in the United States, talked about taking out Wider with “a Tommy Hearns-like right.’’
In the U.K., Fury’s comments were interpreted as a slight directed at Davison, who was in Fury’s corner for the controversial draw with Wilder Dec. 1, 2018 at Staples Center.
“I understand Tyson’s got a hell of a lot of fans and they might want to know this, know that, but, like I say, there’s no need to go into details,’’ said Davison, who says he will be back in U.K. super middleweight Billy Joe Saunders’ corner. “The working relationship has come to an end and we’re still friends.”