By Jake Tiernan: Oleksandr Usyk says his negotiations with Tyson Fury are deadlocked and not moving forward for their fight in December in Saudi Arabia.
IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) isn’t saying how far apart he and WBC belt-holder Fury are in getting this fight made, but it’s not a good sign that the negotiations are once again stuck at an impasse.
Despite negotiations not going well, Usyk believes he’ll eventually fight Fury, but he doesn’t say when. Fury has gotten to the stage of his career where he’s difficult to negotiate with, and that can only get worse as long as he keeps winning.
For Fury’s career, this would be a disaster because it would show that he’s no longer capable of negotiating fights against top-level opposition.
We recently witnessed the same deadlocked negotiations between Usyk and Fury earlier after the two couldn’t agree on the rematch split.
Some boxing fans believe Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) was never serious about wanting to make the fight, so he chose to use hardball negotiation tactics, knowing that Usyk would never agree.
Usyk told Vringe that his negotiations with Fury are trapped “at an impasse. The fight will take place sooner or later. And everything will be decided in the ring.
“A big man who has very good abilities in boxing and in life, but this big man is very afraid of losing,” added Usyk about Fury.
“People talk about Tyson Fury boxing on June 22nd. People were talking about him fighting Andy Ruiz,” said Eddie Hearn to iFL TV. Andy Ruiz apparently priced himself out. Everyone is going to price themselves out.
“Therefore, Tyson’s not going to make a lot of money, and before you know it, you’re entering a training camp in September or August for your December fight. So it’s actually not that far away. I understand Usyk-Dubois is not happening.”
Former IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Andy Ruiz Jr is rumored to have wanted $18 million for the Fury fight, but that was rejected by him. With the Ruiz fight off the table, Fury doesn’t have a lot of options for a tune-up fight, but perhaps it doesn’t matter.
If Fury’s negotiations with Usyk are falling apart, Tyson won’t be fighting in December in the Middle East unless the Saudis are fine with him fighting another low-level British fighter like Derek Chisora or Dillian Whyte.
Zhilei Zhang isn’t an option for Fury because Joe Joyce has activated his rematch clause from their fight last April. Zhang would be a good opponent for Fury to fight in December, but you have to wonder if the negotiations with him would also fall apart.