By Charles Brun: Deontay Wilder says he’s “not surprised” that the negotiations between Tyson Fury and unified IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk fell apart recently.
This was the second colossal fight in a row that Fury whiffed on after blowing the deal for a mega-money Anthony Joshua fight last December. Some believe that Fury is only interested in taking on journeyman-level fighters that have no chance of beating him, like Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte.
Interestingly, Wilder chose not to blame WBC champion Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) for the fight talks with Usyk falling apart, even though it seems evident that it was purely the 6’9″ Tyson’s fault for the negotiations imploding.
After giving Usyk a 70-30, “Take it or leave it” offer, Fury then insisted on a 50-50 split for the rematch if he were to come in as the loser going up against would be a four-belt undisputed champion.
For the average fan, it’s crazy to imagine Fury being entitled to a 50-50 split if he were beaten in the first fight by Usyk and facing the undisputed champion.
Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk says Fury refused to compromise on his dogged insistence of getting a 50-50 split for the rematch, which suggests that he was never seriously interested in the fight and was just looking for a way out and he found one.
“This is the business of boxing; it’s a tough business,” said Deontay Wilder to Fight Hub TV when asked about his thoughts on the collapsing Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk negotiations.
“For me, boxing is one of the most challenging businesses because it has no structure so it can go any way. It’s not a surprise to me that it fell apart like that.
“Just like many other fights before, so we can’t be surprised at this because we’ve seen so many of the best fights that we think would have happened but didn’t happen and fall apart,” said Wilder.
Interestingly, Wilder is choosing not to criticize Fury over the Usyk fight negotiations falling apart. Some would see Wilder’s soft comments about Fury as a signal that he’s trying to stay on his good side in hopes of getting a lucrative fourth fight against him in 2023 or 2024.
If Wilder is secretly holding out hopes that Fury will look his way and throw him a bone for a fourth fight, it makes perfect sense that he would choose not to dump on the ham-handed fumbling of his fight with Usyk. Electing not to trash Fury is a way of making sure he stays on his good side.
