WBC heavyweight champion, Tyson Fury, has boldly claimed that his rumoured fight with Oleksandr Usyk will not be for the undisputed title – at least for him.
Ukrainian Usyk has confirmed that he will be in attendance for Fury’s upcoming fight with Derek Chisora, which takes place this weekend, as he looks to secure a fight which will crown a first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
However, Fury has revealed that previous altercations with the IBF [International Boxing Federation], means he would not wish to box for their belt, which Usyk currently holds.
Back in 2015, Fury was stripped of his IBF world title for not facing his mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov. It took the IBF just four days to strip the Gypsy King of his crown, who claims to iFL TV that he had paid sanctioning fees for that fight and was never reimbursed, despite him losing his title and the fight not taking place.
“It’s only the s**tty IBF title, which I wouldn’t box for anyway. The undisputed [crown] won’t be on the line for me because I won’t box for the IBF, that is a fact.”
“I wouldn’t pay sanctioning fees for the IBF, they are w***ers down there. They robbed me. Unless they reimburse me, of seven years ago, the sanctioning fees that I paid them, they will never ever, ever, ever get to put a red belt on The Gypsy King.”
“[They stripped me] In about four days I think, about four or five days and guess what, they didn’t pay me my money back. So whoever is the head of the IBF, they owe me sanctioning fees.”
“Daryl [Peoples] (CEO of the IBF), give me my money back, b**ch, or else they will be no undisputed on the line for your s**t belt.”
Whilst Fury would refuse to pay sanctioning fees for the IBF title, the undisputed king could still be crowned if Usyk were to win the fight, needing just Fury’s WBC belt to make history.
Not only would Usyk become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era, but he would join Evander Holyfield in an extremely exclusive club as just the second fighter to become undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Fury must first beat Chisora, who he fights on Saturday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The card is available to purchase on BT Sport Box Office for a price of £26.95.