Eddie Hearn has had his say on negotiations between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk – and believes the former had ‘played the public’ for some time.
The promoter saw his fighter, Anthony Joshua, lose twice to Usyk, putting him firmly out of the heavyweight title picture and far away from their shared goal of being undisputed.
The elite Ukrainian has been in talks with Fury since December, but as the proposed fight date of April 29 nears, nothing has been signed or announced.
A latest obstacle for those around the negotiating table is that of financial reward and purse split for the fighters. It’s reported that Fury refuses 50/50 if the event is in his home country, whilst Usyk’s side see splitting everything down the middle as fair.
In an interview with iFL TV, Hearn compared ‘AJ’s willingness to make the difficult fights compared to Fury.
“Anthony Joshua fought Usyk back to back, no f**king problems, no questions, no long negotiations. ‘That’s my mandatory, I’ll fight him’.
Everyone said swerve Usyk, he’s a tough tough fight, you don’t want to fight him, AJ said ‘no, I want to be undisputed, give me Usyk’. Done.
The rematch comes in, you don’t want to fight Usyk, you need a warm up fight, ‘give me Usyk’.”
Hearn sent more criticism Fury’s way, claiming he’s not the draw he thinks he is.
“When are you guys going to start understanding.
‘It’s not about the money, I’ll fight him for free, and make the tickets free for the general public’. F**k Off! You want money, you want too much money, you’re not the draw you think you are.
That fights not as big as you think it is. Everyone talks about big fights in the Middle East for heavyweight world championships, well guess what, there is only one person who’s delivered big fights for the Middle East and that is me!
Greed! If you are about legacy, if you want to be undisputed then you take the fight.
You’ve all been played for all these years.”
Hearn said ‘maybe’ when asked if he thinks the fight will be made, but said those involved need to make concessions.
As for the promoters tasked with making it – Frank Warren for Fury and Alex Krassyuk for Usyk – they’re in agreement that signatures are needed by the end of the week or the fighters move on.