Tyson Fury has a special mesh web inserted to prevent cut opening up
Jacob 'Stitch' Duran: "Everybody is worried about the cut except me and Tyson Fury"
Brought in to help Tyson Fury's huge wound on his eyebrow, suffered during his bloody win over Otto Wallin in his last fight in September 2019, Jacob 'Stitch' Duran has revealed 'The Gypsy King' has a mesh web inserted into his soft tissue where the cut is in order to strengthen it which will fuse into his tissue and protect him from Deontay Wilder's brute force.
When speaking exclusively to VegasInsider.com in Las Vegas, he also said that everybody is worried about the cut except him and Tyson – and that when the Briton is in the ring, he will treat him like his own son.
"Tyson has had a mesh web inserted into his soft tissue where the cut is in order to strengthen it," the legendary cutman said. "Whenever you put a web on something it's only going to give it that additional support. But when I first met with Tyson, we went over the cuts and I saw immediately that the surgeon that did the work did a tremendous job. Technology is reaching a point where it's getting better and better.
"The advantages is you protect it while also having the natural healing. I would think that the tissue is going to grow into the webbing, so now you now have an extra layer which will all mesh into one.
"The cut hasn't affected Tyson's sparring at all. The first time I started to put Vaseline on him, he said nobody had put it on like that before as his brother used to do it – so that was an honour to me. But you want to protect all the area, not just the cut. You just want to protect his whole face at all times.
"I do what I do with all my fighters, treat them like my son every round. I told Tyson 'I will be doing a lot of preventative maintenance on you, I'll be keeping ice on you and minimise any swelling or irritation'. But I can talk as much to Tyson about this before the fight and prepare him, but if something happens I just do what I do and try to give him every opportunity to win the round and go one round more.
"But his eyebrow is excellent, it won't be an issue. I spoke to him yesterday after training and I worked bare knuckle fights last week in Florida where people kept asking me this question. I said to him: 'everybody in the world is concerned about the cut except you and I'. So that is how we feel right now."
"I've worked with so many different personalities during my career and it's not difficult at all with Tyson's moods. I've had guys cry, be angry and I'm fine with it. For my part, I said to Tyson Fury that when he is in the ring, he is my son. Once that's out the way and if anything happens, that's just Tyson Fury. Can't change him."
"This is up there in the two two events I've done alongside Klitschko and Anthony Joshua. It's insane right now but just to work with a kid of this calibre for such a big fight like this makes me so honoured. I'm excited to work with Tyson and see what happens.
"I've worked with Sugar Hill and his fighters many times over many years and we understand each other, that style which he brought in from Emmanuel Steward is a very effective system. I'm confident in Sugar Hill every time."
'Stitch' first met Tyson back in 2015 when he was working in the oppoite corner for Wladimir Klitschko when Fury took the heavyweight world titles from the giant Ukrainian in an unexpected upset. He witnessed the Mancunian's greatness that night and has now seen even more of his potential close up at the Kronk Gym in Detroit.
"Tyson will be aggressive at certain points," Duran predicted. "Everything is going to set up, it's not going to be him balls to the wall, everything is going to be an educated move for him and I saw all that in the gym."
'Stitch' has also worked with UFC legends Anderson Silva and appeared in the Rocky and Creed flims alongside Sylvester Stallone.