By Craig Daly: Promoter Frank Warren confirms that the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury fight negotiations are “very close” to getting done for April 29th.
Warren will meet with Alex Krassyuk, the promoter for IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) tomorrow, and he’s hoping they can get the deal done. It’s important that the fight get made this week, Warren said.
Wembley Stadium in London has been penciled in as a backup venue in case they can’t get the deal done to stage the fight in the Middle East in Saudi Arabia.
WBC champion Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) and Usyk naturally want to stage the fight where it can make the most money, and that would be Saudi Arabia. But if it can’t happen there, Usyk & Fury will need to decide if they want to take less money by staging it in London at Wembley Stadium or wait until later when they can take the fight to the Middle East.
As Warren points out, if the Usyk vs. Fury fight doesn’t happen on April 29th, Oleksandr Usyk will have to defend against his WBA mandatory Daniel Dubois, and the boxing public will miss out on the undisputed clash.
Usyk vs. Fury “very close”
“We’re very, very close to getting this done. His [Usyk] people are coming in tomorrow, and I’m hoping to get some news for everybody. We’re close to getting it done,” said promoter Frank Warren to talkSPORT Boxing on the Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury fight negotiations.
“Tomorrow, we’re going to meet up. Alex Krassyuk, his promoters are coming in. I’m hoping that we can do the deal,” said Warren.
Usyk, 35, will likely want the fight to be staged in the Middle East, where it can make the most money, as he hasn’t built up a vast fortune the way Fury has. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Fury’s net worth is estimated at $65 million. In contrast, Usyk’s net is said to be $4 million.
If the Usyk-Fury fight takes place in Saudi Arabia, Usyk’s net worth will rise considerably, and that’s important because he’s not the same spring chicken he was when he first turned professional a decade ago in 2013.
“That’s obvious because if you go abroad, then you go for a premium,” Warren said when told that the money that can be made by staging the Usyk-Fury fight in the UK is nowhere close to what can be made by having the fight staged in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk-Fury could break box office records
“It’s the same for anybody that goes to Saudi. If not, we get down to the reality of it will all be at Wembley, where the numbers are what they are,” said Warren. “We broke the box office records last time with the fight with Dillian last April [against Fury]. If we get this one on, this one will break that record.
“We can’t because the four governing bodies are not going to keep letting this go on and on. Usyk has three belts is [due], and his first mandatory, if they call it, will be against Daniel Dubois.
“So the situation is it’s got to be dealt with this week. Otherwise, it won’t happen, and that would be bad for boxing and bad for everybody in the sport if we don’t make it happen,” Warren said about the Usyk vs. Fury undisputed match.
“So, we’ve got it penciled in as insurance,” said Warren about Wembley Stadium being on standby if they can’t stage the fight in Saudi Arabia. I’d like to see it at Wembley because I’d like to see the records broken, but from the boxers and the bank managers’ point of view, they’d like to maximize what they can earn for a historic fight, which is a historic fight with four belts on the line,” said WWarren.
