Frank Warren has put a dagger in the hopes of an undisputed heavyweight world title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk taking place later this year.
Talks collapsed for an April 29th fight between the pair, with disagreements over the terms surrounding a rematch clause proving too great to overcome.
And when speaking to Pitch Boxing, Warren revealed he envisaged mandatory obligations getting in the way of the fight being rescheduled in the back end of 2023.
“You go and fight in Saudi Arabia because they pay a premium. The fight was supposed to go there in February, then in April, then they came back and said they can’t do it until the new stadium is built. That could be end of November or December.”
“So there won’t be a unification will there – they’ve got mandatory defences. What are we going to do – stop the boxing world? You think that Hrgovic, Daniel Dubois and Joe Joyce are just going to sit on their a***s waiting for that to happen? You think the governing bodies are going to allow that to happen?”
“Live in the real world!”
Despite Fury and Usyk agreeing a 70/30 split, fans remained apprehensive that the fight could be finalised in time for the end of April touted date.
Those concerns proved to be justified earlier this week, when the Ukrainians representatives announced the historic clash would not be happening and that he would be looking to fulfil his mandatory obligations, potentially starting with WBA regular champion Daniel Dubois.
It remains unclear whether or not ‘The Gypsy King’ will defend his WBC world title on the 29th against a different opponent, with Warren even suggesting that Fury ‘may retire’.