Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk fight 'off' over rematch terms
A disagreement over terms of a rematch might’ve sunk the fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Fury and Usyk agreed to a 70-30 split of the revenue in Fury’s favor for a fight that has been scheduled for April 29. However, they reportedly couldn’t agree on a split if the loser invokes a rematch clause.
As a result, Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, told TalkSport in the U.K. that the IBF, WBA and WBO titleholder has pulled out of talks with Fury, the WBC champ.
“The fight is called off. The reason for that is it went too far,” Krassyuk said. “There was a feeling that after Usyk accepted 70-30 Tyson Fury started to think he can put a saddle on his neck and start riding Usyk as much as he can. It is not right.
“Usyk accepted the 70-30 split. He was so loyal and he was so willing to make this fight happen. But this fight is not about Tyson Fury. It is about the WBC belt and expanding his collection.
“If it is so complicated that Tyson tries to avoid it by putting so many obstacles in front of making the deal, then there is no need to put more effort into it.
“The only thing that stays in my mind is that undisputed stays our highest priority and we will do our best to make it happen within the shortest period of time and whoever is the temporary holder of the WBC belt, we will try to make it happen.”
Frank Warren, Fury’s co-promoter, wasn’t willing to give up on the Fury-Usyk showdown.
He was asked whether the fight is off. He responded, “No, I’m not confirming it’s off. All I’ve had from [Usyk’s manager] officially was an email that said, ‘Gentlemen, hope you’re okayOK, I’m not going into details, start to blame or point the finger to anyone, but we’d like to officially announce that Team Usyk is out of further negotiations regarding the April 29 fight.’
“We got that yesterday, that’s the first we heard of it.
Warren went on: “We got it all out the way except for one issue and that was the rematch. Tyson publicly stated that we should scrap the rematch. This was to simplify the deal.
“Rematch clauses can be very difficult and Tyson’s been there before when a rematch blocked a fight with him and Anthony Joshua [in 2021] when Deontay Wilder took him to court. That kyboshed that fight with Joshua.
“Anyway, I convinced Tyson to take the rematch [with Usyk] and he did. So I told them on Sunday we’re gonna go with the rematch. Then we got into a situation with how the rematch money is gonna be split and that’s what we’ve been working on…
“Why can’t it be overcome if he wants the fight? We want the fight. Why can’t it be overcome?… There’s no reason for this fight to be off.”
If negotiations can’t be salvaged, Usyk could fight WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois of London.
Former titleholder Deontay Wilder also said he is interested in facing Usyk. Wilder is the WBC’s No. 1 contender, meaning he could also fight Fury for a fourth time if Fury is interested.