By Jake Tiernan: Tyson Fury made it clear today that the “money” isn’t good enough for him to fight unbeaten IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in the undisputed championship that the fans have been calling for.
Fury’s desire for personal gain seems to have overridden his motivation to compete and prove himself as the best in the heavyweight division.
The 35-year-old WBC champion Fury says Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) would be a no-win fight for him, as he wouldn’t receive credit for beating him, and if he were to lose, it would hurt his standing. Moreover, the “money” wouldn’t be good enough for him to take the fight.
Fury doesn’t say who he will fight once he gets done with his crossover match against non-boxer Francis Ngannou on October 28th.
“Why would I want to fight him for no money? He’s got zero personality. If I beat him it’s, ‘Oh well, he beat a middleweight.’ If he beats me, he beat the legendary Tyson Fury,” said Fury @BoxingOnTNT.
It would seem that greed is what Fury is all about now rather than sport. How sad.
If Fury chooses to move into the cage for his next event, he would be putting the World Boxing Council in a bad position where they would need to strip him or be made to look like the laughing stock of the four major sanctioning bodies, which some would argue is already the case and has been for a long time.
It would be a class move on Fury’s part to vacate the WBC title before his event with the 37-year-old Ngannou so the top contenders can compete for the belt.
At this point, Fury is hurting the sport by holding the WBC title hostage and not facing quality contenders. He’s made enough money to where he doesn’t need to use the WBC as a promotional prop to sell his fights.
His fans will purchase his crossover events regardless of him being finished as an active fighter in the sport, as he pretty much already is.
“If you put Oleksandr Usyk in Morecambe in a leisure centre, he wouldn’t sell it out. I offered him 30% of a large bag, and they said they wanted more. On what merit do you deserve more? I’m a superstar; you’re a nobody,” said Fury.
If Fury is only going to focus on fighting guys that will bring him the most money, that pretty much limits his choices to two or three heavyweights in the division if he chooses to return to facing boxers after his event against Ngannou.
Money fights for Fury:
- Anthony Joshua
- Deontay Wilder
- Andy Ruiz Jr