WBC world heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury has refused to rule out an undisputed world heavyweight world title fight as long as unified world champion Oleksandr Usyk is reasonable with his financial demands.
Fury spoke yesterday at the opening press conference in London of his October 28th non-title fight with boxing debutant Francis Nngannou, set to be held in Saudi Arabia.
The press conference, which was described as a ‘pantomime’ by various menbers of the press, who was present, was well and truly the Tyson Fury and did not shy away from speaking about his rival.
“If Usyk is a good little boy, he might be an option, but if he isn’t, he will just be another foreign middleweight that stays out in the cold,” Fury told Sky Sports.
“I will beat him, and I won’t even look for a body shot either. I will knock him out with a chin shot if that fight ever happens. If he is a good little boy and takes a small percentage of the superstar’s money then he will get a fight if he wants big bucks. If he wants a seat at the king’s table, then you’ve got to play ball with the master.”
Fury & Usyk were embroiled in protracted and public negotiations regarding an undisputed showdown which would have taken place in April at London’s Wembley Stadium. However, despite Usyk accepting an offer of 30% regarding a purse split, negotiations collapsed due to Fury’s everchanging demands and unhinged comments alongside a failure to agree to a purse split regarding any prospective rematch between the pair.
Usyk, following his win over Daniel Dubois last month in Poland courtesy of a ninth-round knockout, in no specific terms reminded the boxing press present that he wants to fight Fury sooner rather than later. Frankly, it is the only fight the boxing public wishes to see in boxing’s glamour and premier division.
However, that is unlikely due to IBF mandatory challenger Filip Hrgovic waiting in the wings for his opportunity to contest the WBA, WBO, IBF & IBO world heavyweight titles next.
Fury added his two cents into the equation and boldly commented that if Usyk does fight Hrgovic next, he will earn next to nothing and that if Usyk returns to the negotiating table with himself, he should lower his financial demands.
“He can go and fight someone else for [hardly anything] again like he did against Dubois. If he fights Hrgovic, he will get [hardly anything] also and if he fights [Zhilei] Zhang he will get even less,” Fury said.
