By Jake Tiernan: Promoter Eddie Hearn says he’s still not sure that Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undisputed fight will take place on April 29th because it won’t make the money that the ‘Gypsy King’ had hoped due to it being staged at Wembley Stadium.
If Fury was hoping to get over $120 million, which it’s believed he was asking the Saudis for, he will be disappointed with the considerably smaller purse that will be available to him for fighting at Wembley Stadium.
If Fury only gets a fourth of that amount of money, he could balk at taking the Usyk fight and instead, go in the direction of Francis Ngannou or his buddy, Joseph Parker.
With Wembley Stadium already booked for April 29th, Fury will need to reject the Usyk fight soon because his management will need time to insert another opponent for that date, and they won’t be able to promote it properly if Tyson waits before making it clear that he’s not taking the match.
Hearn is pleased that IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) has called Fury’s bluff by accepting the lopsided 70-30 split for the fight, but he doesn’t know that the clash will take place because the money isn’t what Tyson wanted and he’s only got six weeks to train.
For the naive boxing fans who say that Usyk only has six weeks to prepare as well, that’s not the reality. The truth is, Usyk has been training for this fight since last December, which gives him a tremendous headstart over Fury, which will give him a huge advantage.
Fury has looked slow and ponderous in his last three fights due to all the weight that he’s packed on under the Sugarhill Steward’s ‘punch, hold & lean’ system that he’s taught him.
The weight has worked for Fury against his last three opponents – Deontay Wilder, Derek Chisora & Dillian Whyte – due to them beinng stationary fighters that lacked the mobility to prevent Tyson from grabbing and leaning on them.
“Look, it’s six weeks to go or seven weeks to go before the fight. Tyson says he started camp today. Usyk has called his bluff. Who knows?” said Eddie Hearn to Secondsout about Tyson Fury supposedly fighting Oleksandr Usyk on April 29th at Wembley Stadium.
“Tyson is going to have to take money that he never imagined taking for that fight because it’s going to be at Wembley. Great, I really hope it happens. I guess we’ll see.”
“I don’t know if it’ll happen. It’s an unbelievable split,” said Hearn to iD Boxing about the Fury vs. Usyk fight. “It’s not going to be the money Tyson wants because it’s at Wembley. On that split, I don’t know what he’s going to do now. He’s saying he’s taking the fight, so hopefully, it happens.”
