Tyson Fury's opponent filmed wrestling bear in terrifying footage ahead of comeback
Tyson Fury's comeback opponent, Arslanbek Makhmudov, has been filmed wrestling a bear as part of a bizarre training method.
Fury, 37, is set to compete for the first time since December 2024 when he takes on Makhmudov at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11.
'The Gypsy King' officially announced his retirement from boxing last February after his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk, but confirmed last month that he would return to the ring.
Fury said earlier this week that one of the reasons behind his comeback was a fatal car crash involving Anthony Joshua in Nigeria last December, which killed two of Joshua's close friends.
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"The biggest turning point in this comeback, for me, was a tragedy that happened with Anthony Joshua," he told reporters (via BBC Sport).
"I thought, life is very, very short, and very precious and very fragile, and anything can happen at any given moment. You should never put things off until tomorrow or next year or next week, because tomorrow is never promised to nobody.
"I made my mind up there and then that I'm going to come back to boxing, because it's something that I love, and I'm passionate about, and I've always been in love with. And there is no tomorrow to put it off too.
"So that's why I'm back today for this big fight."
The chosen comeback opponent for Fury is Russian heavyweight Makhmudov, who is based in Canada and has a 21-2 record at professional level.
A total of 19 of his wins have arrived via knockout, and he is the current WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight champion after defeating David Allen in October.
Makhmudov has previously employed some unconventional training methods - as proven by a video uploaded to social media, which shows him training with none other than a real-life bear.
In the footage, Makhmudov can be seen squaring up to the bear and wrestling it, before even putting it in a headlock at one stage.
It should go without saying that it isn't advisable to wrestle a large wild animal as part of your training sessions, but Makhmudov does have some reasoning behind the bizarre choice.
He did so in August before his title fight against Allen, with a clip on that occasion showing him engaged in a collar and elbow tie-up with the bear before placing it in an aptly-named bear hug.
He told WorldBoxingNews in September: "It started with a friend asking me if I wanted to wrestle a bear, and I said, 'Of course'.
"It was very scary, for sure. It's an animal, so it's literally wild, but I took it as a test because I always like to be challenged.
"I think most of the reaction was positive. Of course, some people didn't understand why I did that. But I like I said, for me, it was like a test. Not just physically, but also mentally."
"I promise [to] my mother not to do wrestling with bears," he told the same outlet earlier this month. "Because you have to understand this is very dangerous.
"This fight, I'm starting my camp in Russian mountains and then we go back to Montreal, Canada to prepare for war."
Makhmudov posted the clip of him fighting a bear to his Instagram page on Saturday, though wrote that he is 'not responsible for it anymore' - indicating that he has followed through with his promise to his mother.
"3 meter tall and 400kg weight MONSTR!," he wrote. "Many people think he's probably crazy since he's fighting a bear?!
"Yes, it's crazy, I agree! But even madness is justified when you pursue good goals, and the goal was to overcome the threshold of fear and learn to control yourself in critical situations!
"P S if someone thinks it's easy, I can send you the location, let them try it! But I'm not responsible for it anymore."
Topics: Tyson Fury, Boxing
Ryan Smart