Tyson Fury refutes that his father's presence is partially to blame for his loss to Oleksandr Usyk earlier this year.

Tyson's former trainer and uncle, Peter Fury, lambasted his brother, John, after the 'Gypsy King's' initial loss to the undefeated Ukrainian in May, in which, Usyk bested the at the time WBC champion in a narrow split-decision win. John was one of the loudest voices in Tyson's corner during the bout, telling his son that he was winning the fight going into the 12th round.

However, Peter was quick to criticise his brother's choice of words during the fight, telling October Red: "Some can be too emotional in the corner, someone is giving the wrong advice ‘you’re winning it’. I think the only one who spoke a little bit of sense in that corner, in the last dying stretch of it, I’m not criticising the rest of them, was Sugar Hill [Steward].

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"He said: ‘Put it on him’. I’m sure I heard that. ‘Go forward, stop crossing your legs, set on your shots’. I think that was the best advice out of all of it. For me there was just too many people, but maybe Tyson wants that, I don’t know. It’s been years since he dealt with me.

"I don’t know what the situation is, but clearly, for me, the game plan was wrong and there were too many people in the corner. Whichever of them one, two or three, only one of them should have been doing the speaking. Whichever one it was, just one, not three or four, because, how can you listen to that?"

However, Tyson has since explained that his team will not change headed into the upcoming rematch with Usyk – citing how the first meeting was an incredibly close state of affairs which he thought he won. He explained, during a promotional event for the Undisputed video game: "Not much time. I know what I’ve got to do, nothing drastic. People can say I want to change trainers or I’ll blame it on me conditioning coach or I’ll blame it on the cook or I’ll blame it on the mouse next door.

"Same team, same everything. I know what I’ve got to do. I thought I won the fight last time. I give him, me boxing all my life and watching boxing my whole career, I give him rounds eight, nine and ten, and round nine was a 10-8. So that’s what I give him out of the fight, but obviously the judges saw it a bit different, couple of them did. One of them had me winning. That’s what it was. It was as close as it can be."

However, in a recent interview, it seems as though Tyson may have backtracked on his stance of keeping the same team by his side. According to The Sun, asked if his 59-year-old father will return to his corner for his match on December 21, Tyson explained: "I don’t know.

"I don’t get involved in all that s****. I just go to the gym, train and fight, get paid, go home. That’s what I have always done."

John was not only lambasted for his instructions in the corner towards his son during the initial encounter in Saudi Arabia, but he also made headlines for serious unprofessionalism when he headbutted a member of Usyk's team days before the bout.

Not only was Tyson handed the first loss of his professional boxing career when he was bested by Usyk on May 18, but he also missed out on becoming the first undisputed champion of the heavyweight division since Lennox Lewis in 1999.

Usyk held the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO titles headed into the fight, claiming Fury's WBC title after 12 rounds when the judges' scored the bout 115–112, 114–113 and 113–114 in his favour.

However, the 37-year-old gave up his IBF belt shortly after the bout, opting to face Fury, 36, in an instant rematch rather than face mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois. Undisputed greatness will not be on the line when the two men meet at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh on Saturday night, but Fury may have the chance to reclaim a share of the belts at heavyweight if he's successful in his endeavours.