Tim Bradley: “Fury is the one to blame” for Usyk fight not happening

By Boxing News - 03/27/2023 - Comments

By Jim Calfa: Tim Bradley says Tyson Fury is to blame for the undisputed heavyweight fight with unified three-belt champion Oleksandr Usyk not taking place on April 29th in London.

As far as Bradley is concerned, WBC belt-holder Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) has become a “diva” after 15 years in the pro game, and he’s “sick” of it. Many people believe that Fury was just pretending to be interested in Usyk all this time, playing a joke on him and the fan by feigning negotiations, offering the 2012 Olympic gold medalist, former undisputed cruiserweight champ, and three-belt heavyweight champ the same deal that would be provided to a mandatory challenger.

What made it clear that Fury was never planning to fight Usyk is that he hadn’t even begun training camp for the fight. Fury’s trainer SugarHill Steward told the media last week that he’d not been training him for the Usyk clash.

Instead of training Fury, Sugarhill had been getting WBO cruiserweight champion Lawrence Okolie ready for his title defense against mandatory challenger David Light.

Since Fury successfully defended his WBC title against journeyman Dillian Whyte last April, he can’t be stripped of his belt now. As such, boxing fans must put up with this disappointing 6’9″ belt holder until he’s beaten, stripped, or hangs up his gloves at some point.

There’s a possibility that the 34-year-old Fury could retire, which arguably would be a good thing because it would free up his WBC belt to where it could get fought over by the#1 ranked Deontay and #2 Andy Ruiz Jr,  both of which would likely take a fight with IBF, WBA & WBO champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) with no questions asked.

Fury ducked Usyk

“Fury is the one to blame,” said Tim Bradley to ESPN on why the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk undisputed heavyweight fight isn’t taking place.

I’m sick of the mess. I call this a legitimate duck by Fury. He’s ducking Usyk. He didn’t think Usyk was going to take 70/30. The goalposts got moved again. They kept getting moved,” said Bradley.

It’s not likely that Fury will suddenly show interest in making a fight with Usyk or Anthony Joshua after failing to negotiate deals with both. Fury seems to be interested in fighting former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, so that’s a strong possibility for his next fight in an exhibition.