WBC President, Mauricio Sulaiman is fed up with the negotiations between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, blaming ‘ego’ and ‘selfishness’ for the collapse.
By all accounts, the undisputed heavyweight championship fight is off. Usyk – who holds the WBA, IBF and WBO belts – felt disrespected during the talks and, despite accepting justing 30% of the purse, eventually had his team ‘pull the plug.’
As the final decision was being made behind the scenes, Sulaiman told IZQUIERDAZO that he was ‘tired of waiting.’
“We are all tired of waiting for their decision if they fight or not. I want them to decide if they are going to fight, and if not, move to our next step.
When the interests are that big, and get priority over the interest of sport, things can get complicated. Ego, abuse of power, selfishness. Big fights can get done fast. Everything is there for them to sign, but someone is sticking his hand there, obstructing [it to get done.]”
The sanctioning body’s president went on to predict that this would be the last chance fans would see in a while for an undisputed champion in the division.
“This is a unique opportunity to unify the four titles. If that fight is not done now, the title is going to fragment, and each fighter will have to face his mandatories. It would be a shame if this fight doesn’t happen.
Finally, he confirmed that their champion, Fury, has no current defence obligations since Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz Jr have thus far ignored their order by the WBC to fight in a final eliminator.
“He [Tyson Fury] is at freedom. We have not ordered anything else. A fight between Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz was ordered to get a mandatory rival, but that fight has not happened either, so there is nothing else. We were waiting for the Usyk fight and then we would see.”
The Brit is now without an opponent for his next fight, and many fans will be eager for Sulaiman and the WBC to do their part in rectifying that.