Tyson Fury’s comeback opponent, Arslanbek Makhmudov, has sensationally been filmed wrestling a bear ahead of their April bout.
Fury, 37, will come out of retirement after a year-long spell away from boxing to take on the heavy-handed Russian at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on April 11.
And 36-year-old Makhmudov, who has a 21-2 record and a knockout ratio of over 90 per cent, has been seen going to extreme measures to train himself up ahead of their meeting, including wrestling a ‘three meter tall and 400kg’ brown bear.
In the video, Makhmudov can be seen wrestling the bear as it attempted to lock its jaw down on his arm. The bear then follows Makhmudov and lifts onto its haunches before the Russian proceeds to put the animal in a headlock and then an aptly-named bear hug.
This is not the first time Makhmudov, who is based in Canada, has wrestled a bear to prepare for a fight, having done so in August before his victory over David Allen to become the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight champion. 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.
Makhmudov, who will face Tyson Fury at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in April, can be seen wrestling the bear as it attempted to lock its jaw down on his arm in preparation for the bout
Makhmudov last wrestled a bear before his victory over David Allen to become the WBA Inter-Continental heavyweight champion
‘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.’
He told the same outlet earlier this month that this will be the last time he will wrestle a bear before a fight, saying: ‘I promised my mother not to do wrestling with bears. 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!
‘PS if someone thinks it’s easy, I can send you the location, let them try it! But I’m not responsible for it anymore.’
Meanwhile Fury’s return signals the end of a fifth spell of retirement, the latest in which he triggered after losing a second consecutive bout to Oleksandr Uksyk in Dcember 2024.
Fury, 37, will come out of retirement after a year-long spell away from boxing to take on the heavy-handed Russian
Fury has also confirmed that he will go into this comeback fight without a trainer
‘The biggest turning point in this comeback for me was the tragedy that happened with Anthony Joshua,’ he said earlier this month. ‘I was on holiday in Thailand with my family for Christmas, just to get away from the rain.
‘I hear all that bad news that’s gone on and I thought, you know what, life is very short, very precious and very fragile. Tomorrow is a mystery, we have to live for today.
‘And me living for that day, I made my mind up there and then that I’m going to come back to boxing – because it’s something that I love, I’m passionate about and that I’ve always been in love with.’
‘The Gypsy King’ has been trained by American coach SugarHill Steward since 2019, who helped him reclaim the WBC world title before the pair of defeats to Usyk. Fury has also confirmed that he will go into this comeback fight without a trainer.
‘I don’t need a trainer, I don’t need a nutritionist, I don’t need a mind coach, I don’t need a sleep coach and I definitely don’t need a strength coach,’ he told BBC 5 Live.
‘Here’s what I need in boxing – someone to wash my gumshield out and give me some water between rounds, and give me a smear of Vaseline across the eyes, and leave the rest to me.
‘(I’ve got a) PhD in boxing.’
Fury, who has 34 wins in 37 fights including one draw, dismissed claims his fight with the unheralded Makhmudov might struggle to sell 60,000 tickets at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with the 36-year-old saying that his inactivity in the last 16 months ‘is a massive factor’.
