The fallout from the failure to make an undisputed bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk continues, with each side still claiming the other was at fault.
Following Usyk’s second victory over Anthony Joshua to retain the unified heavyweight titles, and Fury’s one-sided win over Derek Chisora, fans were promised the four-belt clash was next up.
The teams entered into negotiations immediately, but things stalled and stuttered before being played out on social media. One such exchange was Fury forcing Usyk to take just 30% of the proposed purse for a bout at Wembley Stadium.
Talks collapsed soon after and are set to be revisited later in the year, assuming both men keep hold of their titles. For Usyk, that’s a defence against Daniel Dubois.
Speaking at the press conference for the fight, his promoter, Alex Krassyuk, pointed to the Ukraine stipulation as one of the main reasons things fell apart – telling Boxing Social that if he revealed all Fury’s image would be ruined.
“Here he comes with Usyk ‘you and your team are worth 30%’ – okay so Usyk called his bluff.
Usyk said ‘listen, I am ready to go, let’s go 70/30, it’s not about money, let’s go. But there is one condition. You have to pay one million to Ukraine. It’s not a donation, it’s not charity, it’s my condition. I take the fight at 70/30, you pay one million to Ukraine.’
Tyson didn’t want to pay to Ukraine. And I will never, ever mention the reason why. Because it will break his image forever.”
Fury’s side remain adamant that Usyk was searching for a big payday from Saudi Arabia, and that’s what made the talks for a UK bout fall through.