Former heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury and American professional boxer Deontay Wilder engaged in a heated altercation ahead of their heavyweight bout, scheduled to be held on Saturday.
As Wilder started shouting at Fury, security people had to intervene to forcibly separate them.
"You say your people have been fighting for 200 years? My people have been fighting for 400 years," CNN quoted Wilder as saying.
Fury, in response, played down his remark saying that it is a heavyweight championship match and not a battle of races or cultures.
"I don't think we should bring this fight into a battle of races, or a battle of cultures or all that. This is above all that. We're fighting for the most gentlemanly, prized, heavyweight championship of the world. He instigated all that. I didn't get up there and start screaming and shouting in his face," Fury said.
"He started with all the '400 years of pain' and all this. He must think that's going to get in my mind, 'Oh he's had 400 years of pain, I won't fight him on Saturday night because he's had 400 years of pain.' Well, my people have been persecuted for thousands of years. Let's not go there. This isn't a battle of who's been persecuted longest. This is a battle between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. It's not a battle of races or cultures," he added.
Fury had his licence suspended in October 2016 after he admitted of taking a lot of cocaine to help him deal with depression. He had not fought any bout since defeating Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015 to bag the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles.
Within two weeks of his victory, he was stripped of the IBF world heavyweight championship belt after he declined to face mandatory title challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov.
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