By Charles Brun: Eddie Hearn is skeptical about Tyson Fury receiving $200 million from the Saudis for his fights with Francis Ngannou & Oleksandr Usyk.
Hearn thinks Fury is getting around $100 million in total for the Ngannou and Usyk fights, and the smaller number going for the event against the ex-UFC fighter.
Fury’s promoter, Bob Arum, said in an interview that Tyson would be getting in excess of $100 million for the Usyk fight in December. Next thing you know, a rumor sprang up about Fury making $200 million, which is an absurd amount of dough for the crossover fight against boxing novice Ngannou & Usyk.
Hearn sounded a bit envious when discussing the huge payday that Fury will be getting for the Usyk & Ngannou fight, and you can understand why. The massive money deal that Hearn thought he had with the Saudis to stage Anthony Joshua vs. Deontay Wilder in Saudi Arabia never came through, and now Eddie doesn’t know when or where that fight will happen.
The money that Hearn thought the Joshua-Wilder fight was going to get from the Saudis has turned out to be an eye-fooling mirage, and he now sounds like he’s in mourning over the pot of gold no longer being there.
The Saudis don’t seem interested in the Joshua vs. Wilder contest any longer, and it’s pretty easy tofigure out why. It’s likely the combination of Joshua’s poor performances dating back all the way to 2019, coupled with his soft opponents in his last two fights.
Joshua’s record is 2-2 in his last four fights, making him a poor candidate for the Saudis to shower with money for a fight with 37-year-old former WBC heavyweight champion Wilder, who has fought only once since losing to Fury in their trilogy contest in 2021.
Is Fury getting $200M?
“What do you think? In one interview, it’s $100 million, and in another interview, it’s $200 million,” said Eddie Hearn to the iFL TV site when asked if it’s true that Tyson Fury is receiving $200M for his fight with Oleksandr Usyk.
“I would say making over $100 [million] Ngannou & Usyk. It’s probably 30 & 70 and 30 & 80, but I’ve heard there’s a rematch clause, whatever happens. So, it’s probably plus.”
Arum said himself that Fury is getting over $100M, so that’s probably the ballpark figure he’ll be making for both fights against the 37-year-old Ngannou and IBF, WBA & WBO champion Usyk.
If it’s true that the Fury-Ngannou fight has a two-way rematch clause, then those two will be meeting for a second fight at some point. Whether that delays the Usyk contest is unclear.
“Maybe you want a rematch clause. Imagine if I said to you, ‘You get x for the first and guaranteed x for the second.’ You’d go, ‘F** it, I might as well do it,'” said Hearn.
“If you’re Fury, you want the rematch with Ngannou just in case, especially if the Saudis are offering him a ton of dough. Why not? It’s not like fat & old-looking Fury has an ambition to start fighting the killers in the division that would take advantage of his poor physical condition, lack of activity, and his rapidly advancing age.
At this point, Fury is just out for the easy money for what is essentially a farewell retirement tour.
Hearn worried about mega-fights not taking place in UK
“Shelly Finkel [Deontay Wilder’s manager] messaged me, saying, ‘We need to make our fight now,’ and it pushes us harder to make Joshua-Wilder, and it pushes us harder to make Benn-Eubank, and it pushes the fighters to go, ‘F**k it, that’s happening. We better do the same thing,'” said Hearn.
“You can’t let two fighters [Fury & Oleksandr Usyk] steal all the spotlight,” said Tony Bellew. “Let’s be honest, if you have those two fights in front of you; you want to tune in to the bomb show [Fury vs. Francis Ngannou].
“So, the bomb is going off, whoever lands first. That appeals to casuals more. Fury & Usyk appeals to a section of boxing fans. But make no mistake, when the Anthony Joshua & Deontay Wilder’s first bell goes, no one is taking their eyes off it because no one knows what’s going to happen, and it the same with Benn-Eubank, to be honest,” said Bellew, sounding like a promoter.
“I’ve got to tell you something else that we’ve got to be careful of. This is a concern for British boxing. We really need to make Joshua-Wilder or Benn-Eubank in the UK because if Joshua-Wilder goes to Vegas or the Middleweight East and Benn-Eubank goes to the Middle East, we’re losing all these mega-fights out of our country,” said Hearn.
“Who’s responsibility is that?” said Bellew.
“The fighters are going to go where the money is,” said Hearn.”We can make Benn-Eubank in the UK tomorrow, but obviously, we have to get past the [board].
“I don’t believe they’ll [Fury vs. Usyk] go [December] 23. I think so [Fury-Usyk goes in January].”
“I don’t think in the history of boxing that we’ve ever had a mega-fight in January ever,” said a wild-eyed Bellew.
