By Sam Volz: Tyson Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren reports they’re not far from deciding on the Oleksandr Usyk fight.
Warren doesn’t say what that decision might be for WBC heavyweight champion Fury, but the way he said it, it doesn’t sound promising.
In other words, Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) could be moving on to face another opponent rather than sticking it out and wasting valuable time trying to get the undisputed clash against IBF, WBA & WBO champ Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) put together for the fans.
Fury’s brother Shane Fugure mentioned last weekend that Andy Ruiz Jr is a potential foe that could be in the pipeline if the Usyk fight doesn’t get made.
Ruiz is the former unified champion, and he’s a low-grade PPV attraction in the U.S. He’d be a bigger name if he were more active with his career, but when you’re sitting on a big $10 million+ fortunate like him, it’s difficult to stay busy because there’s so much to do with that money.
“Well, we’re getting to a situation where one way or another, we’re going to have to make a decision, and we’re not far off of that,” said Frank Warren to Boxing Social, giving an update on the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight.
If the fight doesn’t get made, there will be a lot of fingers pointed at Fury for failing to negotiate his side of the deal with the Saudis, considering Usyk had reportedly made his deal with them that he was satisfied with.
Bringing the fight to the UK, not surprisingly, won’t please Usyk if it involves taking a pay cut from what he would have made if the fight had been staged in Saudi Arabia.
This would be Fury’s second big fight that he’s failed to put together in less than a year after failing to negotiate the Anthony Joshua mega-fight last December.
If Fury fails at putting together fights after this one, he will need to take a long, hard look in the mirror and recognize that he’s become his own worst problem.
It might be a good idea for Fury to get off his high horse and acknowledge that he’s not as big a star as he seems to think he is. Yeah, Fury is unbeaten, but he’s not the massive star that fighters like Anthony Joshua are.
