By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua pointed out the obvious today by telling the media that Tyson Fury ducked Oleksandr Usyk when the three-belt heavyweight champion attempted to negotiate a fight with him.
It’s believed that Fury negotiated himself out of the fight with IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) by setting up so many roadblocks that the talented Ukrainian finally threw up his hands and walked away.
What’s unclear is why the Saudis want to pour money into going through the negotiation process to add Usyk-Fury to the Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder card. If Fury ducked once, he’ll keep on ducking.
That sounds like a waste of time. It can be put together, but it depends on how much the Saudis are willing to pay Fury because he’s going to want a lot of money.
You got to believe whatever Joshua is getting paid for his fight with Wilder, Fury will want to be given more, even though he would be fighting on the undercard.
“Usyk didn’t duck, Fury did duck,” said Anthony Joshua to the media on why Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk isn’t happening.
“I think it’ll be a bit more intelligent. Back then, they were wild, weren’t they? It’s going to be wild, but I think they’re both much better and more rounded fighters, but I think it’ll bring the spite out of them,” said Eddie Hearn to Boxing News on Joshua’s fight with Dillian Whyte on August 12th.
“I think Dillian is going to walk AJ down, and AJ is going to have to stand his ground and fight. I expect it to go a little bit more deeper than the first fight. I see this fight going late. I don’t see it going twelve rounds, but I think it’s going to be grueling.
“Both guys have to be prepared for a good, long fight because, really, people don’t like to talk about careers on the line, but careers are on the line on August 12th,” Hearn said about the Joshua vs. Whyte fight.
If Joshua loses, he’ll still get fights against the top-level guys, but only because of his popularity and not because he’s relevant.
It won’t be the end of the line for Whyte because his career is pretty much over already as a major player after his loss to Fury and his ultra-poor showing against Jermaine Franklin last November. A
s such, if Whyte loses to Joshua, he’ll just continue with what he was doing before. He’s a Derek Chisora type of journeyman heavyweight, who is useful as a B-side opponent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfDfR5XqX8I