Oleksandr Usyk has broken his silence on the collapse of his highly anticipated fight against Tyson Fury.
Usyk looked set to take on Fury in a clash to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
The Ukrainian gave into Fury’s 30% ‘take it or leave it’ split demand and it looked like the fight was on. But just as fans were expecting an official announcement, talks fell apart over rematch financials and both teams confirmed it was off.
Both fighters have taken criticism for not being able to get the deal over the line, but Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, admitted that it was their team that finally pulled the plug.
Usyk and Fury have gone quiet since the fall out, but the man who defeated Anthony Joshua twice to gain his titles, has now taken a swipe at ‘The Gypsy King’.
Talking to Volodymyr Kobelkov on his YouTube channel, Usyk used who many see as the greatest of all time, Muhammad Ali, to make a dig at his rival.
“He is trying very hard to copy the great Muhammad Ali, but the copy is very bad.”
Reports online have started to circulate about potentially trying again to make the fight at the end of the year in Saudi Arabia, when a new sports stadium will be ready.
In the meantime it seems that Usyk will start to fulfil his mandatory duties in a bid to keep hold of his three belts. First in line is WBA regular title holder, Daniel Dubois, and the fight has been officially ordered with a negotiation deadline of May 2.
As for Fury, fans are left to speculate what his next move might be, with a summer mega fight against Anthony Joshua starting to build momentum.