DÜSSELDORF: British challenger Tyson Fury threatened to call off Saturday's world heavyweight bout against Wladimir Klitschko, because of concerns the ring's canvas is too soft, although the issue was resolved hours before the first bell.
World heavyweight champion Klitschko, 39, will defend his International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA) and World Boxing Organisation (WBO) titles against Fury, 27, in Dusseldorf with a 50,000 crowd expected.
"If it's not resolved, the fight threatens to be called off," Fury's manager Asif Vali told the BBC before later tweeting "it's on after two hours, it's fight time."
The issue was over the canvas and foam padding used to form the ring at the Esprit Arena, which Vali said had caused "massive health and safety issues", and Fury's camp complained to the fight's commissioner.
Klitschko's management team said they were always confident the fight will go ahead.
"The boxing associations are on the spot, so I am assuming this is all hot air," Klitschko's manager Bernd Boente told SID, an AFP subsidiary.
The Klitschko-Fury fight is scheduled to start at 2300 local time (2200 GMT).
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