Fury-Klitschko bout on despite canvas, tape row

British challenger Tyson Fury twice threatened to call off Saturday's world heavyweight bout against Wladimir Klitschko because of complaints the ring's canvas was too soft, then over how Klitschko taped his fists.

Klitschko, 39, is set to 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.

The first issue was over the canvas and foam padding used to form the ring at the Esprit Arena, which Fury's manager Asif Vali said had caused "massive health and safety issues", and Fury's camp complained to the fight's commissioner.

The matter was resolved in the early afternoon when the Klitschko camp relented and had some of the foam padding under the ring removed.

Then as the first bell approached, Fury's camp were furious to discover Klitschko had had his fists taped without an observer being present in contravention of boxing's rules.

When Fury's camp complained, the champion's fists were re-strapped which briefly delayed the start of the fight.

The Klitschko-Fury fight had been scheduled to start at 2300 local time (2200 GMT)

Source: AFP