Anthony Joshua has reacted to the Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk negotiations, specifically the purse split offered to the Ukrainian.
The fight the world wanted to see the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis crowned, but talks between Fury and Usyk collapsed last week after drawn out and often public negotiations.
When the deal originally looked to be running out of time, Fury took to social media to offer a ‘take it or leave it’ 30% purse split offer to Usyk. To the surprise of most in boxing, the Ukrainian accepted and it looked like the fight was on.
However, it wasn’t to be and all talks were officially stopped when issues over the rematch financials couldn’t be agreed.
Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, has spoken about his desire to make AJ-Fury in the summer if the Usyk fight did collapse. The former heavyweight champion would welcome the challenge, but isn’t looking forward to the negotiations.
“I’ll tell you what, if he is doing a 70/30 split for an undisputed heavyweight world title fight, to an already undisputed cruiserweight and unified heavyweight champion, imagine what he is going to try to offer me. It’s just a nightmare.
But when that fight happens, God willing it does, then my management and promotional team will be in my corner, they will back me, they know what I bring to the table.
They would negotiate fiercely to make sure I get a lion’s share of what’s on the table.”
It seemed like Joshua and Fury would finally face each other last December when talks between the two camps were progressing well. But, as with so many big fights in boxing, it fell apart and Fury went on to face Derek Chisora instead.
Joshua returns to the ring next month against Jermaine Franklin, in what most see as a must win comeback for the Brit.