By Sam Volz: Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk says he could feel the difference between his dealings with Anthony Joshua for two fights and his attempt to put together a match with Tyson Fury.
Krassyuk states that WBC heavyweight champion Fury didn’t want the fight with Usyk. According to Fury’s promoter Bob Arum, Saudi Arabia could be an option later year in December for the Usyk fight. If so, there’s a lot of money the two heavyweight champions can make fighting over there.
No matter what they agreed to in the negotiations, it wasn’t good enough, and there was almost something new to block them from making the deal.
Krassyuk says he and Usyk saw it as a lost cause and gave up after Fury wouldn’t budge on the rematch clause, which he wanted a 50-50 split as the loser with no belts.
With that said, Krassyuk says he’d still be open to making a fight between Fury and Usyk later this year or next year, provided he’s still in possession of his WBC title. If Fury no longer has the belt, Krassyuk says they’ll negotiate with whoever holds the title.
“Feel the difference between AJ and the other one [Tyson Fury],” Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk said to Boxing UK about the difference between Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury.
“Come on, what happened? We’ve been talking about that for so long. The man [Fury] just didn’t want to fight. He made a mistake appearing on Instagram, calling 70-30 for Usyk because he didn’t expect Usyk to call his bluff, but Usyk did because he wanted that fight so badly,” Krassyuk said.
We don’t know why Fury was dragging his feet on the. It makes sense for him to be less than eager to fight Usyk once it became clear that the Saudi money wouldn’t be there. Why would Fury want to take a massive cut to take a risky fight against Usyk in the UK when he could wait until December and make considerably more?
“We tried to be flexible, accepting most of the demands from his side, but at some point, it was just too much,” said Krassyuk on the Fury negotiations. “The critical mass of some unpleasant stuff collected to the point where it all exploded.
“The point where it all exploded was the split over the rematch clause. Between Usyk and Warren? We are professionals. Listen, I’ve been in boxing for 18 years, and I think it’s quite a long passage of time.
“Frank Warren has been in boxing three times than mine. He knows everything. He’s the Mastodon of boxing. We are professionals, and we deal with our fighters and our fighters are our bosses. So we have to deliver the best possible options for our fighters.
“We work with them, and the best conditions we bring, the better job we do for our fighters. Our negotiations are professional. It’s our job, so we don’t take it personal. If it becomes personal, then it’s not the right way to do it.
“Yes, it may happen. Anything may happen,” said Krassyuk when asked if he thinks a fight between Usyk and Fury could still happen. “It’s not happening on April 29th, but it doesn’t mean it can’t happen by the end of this year or next year or any year following this year.
“It’s not about Tyson Fury. It’s about WBC belt. Whoever holds the belt by that time will be Usyk’s opponent.
Venues being explored for Usyk vs. Dubois fight
“We started the Daniel Dubois discussions before we started the Fury discussions. So now it’s not easy. We have the opportunities on the table, we make the calculations, and the ones that is the best beneficial for the parties, we accept it.
“We have one of the options is the UK in Manchester & London, maybe the Middle East. We’re going to look at some other options,” said Krassyuk.
