After months of negotiations, the fight for the undisputed world heavyweight championship between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is on the verge of collapse. Fury makes his rival an offer that he can only refuse. But Usyk checks the “bluff” and surprisingly agrees. One of the biggest sporting events of the year will take place on April 29th at Wembley Stadium in London: the coronation of the king of kings in boxing.
It was almost like a live ticker. Over the weekend, the boxing world watched spellbound as Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk negotiated their much-anticipated bout for absolute heavyweight dominance on social media. The spectacle started on Friday afternoon. In an Instagram story, Fury spoke up after a long radio silence. “Usyk! You and your team are worth 30 percent. Take it or leave it!” Said the Briton. Unless his rival agrees immediately, he will “deduct” one percent for every day of wasting, the Brit tones and puts a typically vulgar full stop. “The clock is ticking, you pussies.”
After the 50-second clip, most of the experts on the scene were certain that the first fight for all relevant heavyweight world titles in more than 20 years was off the table. It just seemed absurd that Usyk would agree to such a bogus offer. A 60:40 split of income in favor of Fury, okay, connoisseurs of the scene would have considered that to be justifiable in a fight in England. Fury, so the argument goes, is ultimately the crowd puller on the island that makes the till ring.
A ridiculous offer?
The fact that the “Gypsy King” only brings in one world championship belt (that of the WBC association), while Usyk has three (WBA, WBO, IBF), plays a subordinate role. But a 70/30 split, effectively degrading Usyk financially to an ordinary World Cup challenger? outlandish Especially since Usyk promoter Alexander Krassyuk initially demanded half of the money cake for his protégé, later repelled Fury with a 60:40 offer – 60 percent for the winner.
In many respects, however, Oleksandr Usyk is no ordinary prize fighter. On Friday evening, the 36-year-old took up the gauntlet. Usyk launched an answer via Twitter and Instagram that undermined the monetary laws of the boxing business – to his disadvantage. “Hey, greedy belly. I accepted your offer. 70:30 split for a fight at Wembley on April 29,” said the Ukrainian, who came across almost like a clichéd Bond villain with a shirtless, black cap and awkward English. Fury only has to promise to donate one million pounds to the people of Ukraine “immediately after the fight”. “Deal?”
Usyk’s answer popped up on the web shortly after 9 p.m., in a figurative sense it was just before 12. The World Association WBA had declared March 9th as Deadline Day. If there is no agreement by then, the officials of the three-letter organization had announced that Usyk would be obliged to defend his WBA title against number one challenger Daniel Dubois. Just before midnight, just hours after the Usyk video, ESPN reported that the world champion camps had reported to the WBA that an April 29 duel had been agreed.
On Saturday morning, Fury confirmed the good news: “Good morning, world. Today is my first day of training to fight Usyk,” the 34-year-old said during a beach run. A six-week training camp is enough for him to prepare himself (which many connoisseurs doubt). He will impose his will on this “sneaky motherfucker” on April 29th.
“No escape” for Fury
Well, the word with an M doesn’t need a translation, the word “sneaky” does. Sneaky, insidious, sneaky, secretive, sycophantic, the choices are yours. However. But maybe it really annoys Fury that Usyk accepted his actually unacceptable offer without batting an eyelid. Maybe he really didn’t want the fight against the fast and unpleasant to box rival world champion.
Usyk saw through Fury’s “bluff”, judged Eddie Hearn on iFL TV: “Now it’s up to Tyson Fury, no escape.” Fury’s domestic rival Anthony Joshua’s promoter alluded to the shattered British blockbuster between Fury and his protégé last year. At that time, Fury had torpedoed the negotiations between his negotiator Frank Warren and the Joshua side, which were complicated for several reasons, with constant new ultimatums – until the talks were broken off. Usyk didn’t let himself be played with. He really wanted the fight, countered Fury’s gun-on-the-chest negotiation directly and coldly. A move that the Englishman might not have expected.
At the beginning of the year, Fury vs. Uysk seemed like a simple deal to bag. The camps of the undefeated world champions, above all the Fury dealers, protested almost weekly that the duel was almost fixed and would be announced soon. You only have to agree on the date and location. A spring fight in Saudi Arabia came to mind. The potentates from the Middle East once again promised a multi-million dollar spectacle. Major hurdles such as rival TV stations or promoter feuds did not pave the way to the desert. Fury vs Usyk just made sense.
Saudis wave at Fury
But like I said, that’s how it seemed. Because at some point the whole thing started to get stuck. Unlike last time, the boxers did not negotiate about the distribution of income, but directly with the Saudis about a kind of entry fee for the fight. According to the British media, while Usyk apparently quickly agreed with the lenders on a guaranteed exchange, talks between the Fury camp and the Arabs stalled. The initially planned fight date of March 4th was soon no longer tenable. At the beginning of February, Fury promoter Frank Warren nevertheless announced that the duel would take place “100 percent” on April 29, and the deal would be secured in “six to seven days”. Alone: the days passed and nothing happened.
Instead, unexpected news fluttered into the boxing world in mid-February: the Middle Eastern tightrope walkers had waved off that Wembley Stadium in London was now the favorite to host the “Undisputed Showdown”. The fact that even the Saudis closed their opulent dollar suitcase again and refrained from organizing the prestigious mega-event – an indication of the crazy demands Fury must have made.
For the boxing fans, the Saudi K.-o. good news, of course. A sold-out Wembley Stadium makes more than a dry desert event. For the promoters, on the other hand, the whole thing was a tough one. Because: The money cake is many times smaller on the island, although still enormous. The summit meeting of the heavyweights should bring in between 80 and 90 million dollars. Fury’s stock market is getting big thanks to the 70 percent deal. Even though Hearn noted with relish that the Brit didn’t get the chunk he originally hoped for in a clash in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk wins respect, Fury loses
In the boxing world, especially in England, Usyk has earned a lot of respect with his surprising commitment. The public (partly also the published) opinion is relatively unanimous: The fact that the fight for all titles is coming is solely due to Usyk. Fury, who likes to emphasize full-bodiedly how much he doesn’t care about money, stands there as a greedy insatiable. As someone who can’t get enough.
Usyk, on the other hand, was considered a prime example of the “road warrior” even before his social media coup, a fighter who is never afraid to fight in his opponent’s backyard. He won his first world title in Gdansk in 2016 against the Pole Krzysztof Glowacki, two years later he triumphed in Moscow in the final of the World Boxing Super Series, in which he outclassed the Russian Murat Gassiev. Usyk also crowned himself heavyweight world champion on the terrain of his opponent. In 2021, the noble technician dethroned the physically clearly superior Joshua in London. 60,000 Britons watched in horror at Tottenham Stadium as the guest boxed out their ring darling over twelve rounds and snatched the WBA, WBO and IBF titles from their “AJ”.
Now the next away game is coming up for Usyk – and with Fury the final opponent in the heavyweight division is waiting. The 2.06 meter giant is 16 centimeters taller than the Ukrainian “cat”, has much longer arms and is around 20 kilograms heavier. Usyk doesn’t care: he’s been boxing since he was 15 and people always said he couldn’t do this or that, said the world champion in an interview with Sky reporter Gary Neville. The doomsayers are always people who cannot do what they set out to do themselves.
“Just because someone is taller than me or has longer arms doesn’t mean they are stronger.” The outstanding footwork, excellent technique, condition, speed and the uncomfortable position on the right hand side speak for the Ukrainian. The crux: Fury brings practically all of this with him – in addition to his massive advantages.
It would take a long time to page back in the boxing history book (from the absurd “era” of Russian giant Nikolay Valuev) to find a comparable David vs. Goliath duel with the title at stake. In 1934 the 1.82 meter tall and 84 kilogram light heavyweight world champion Tommy Loughran challenged the champion Primo Carnera. At two meters tall, the Italian came across as an extraterrestrial in America in the 1930s.
Carnera weighed 38 kilos more than the American. The giant wasn’t particularly good at boxing, but he tiredly clinched the technically gifted Loughran with all his mass for 15 laps and won on points. Loughran said afterwards that he had rubbed his body with garlic to keep Carnera at bay: “How did I know that the dolt liked garlic?” Does Tyson Fury like garlic? Probably yes. Oleksandr Usyk won’t care either. He is ready.