By: Sean Crose
Tyson Fury had a great story. He surprised many people by defeating a heavyweight boxing champion, then falling into a world of alcohol, drugs and depression. It seemed like the end, but the man was back from the brink. Indeed, Fury even regained the linear heavyweight belt (along with the WBC heavyweight belt). There’s a lot of gratification when it comes to Tyson Fury. Now, however, in just a few months, he has fallen out of favor with his fans. Why? Because critics are blaming the British tennis player for his undisputed heavyweight title challenge with fellow heavyweight Oleksandr Usyk that fell through.
And one of those critics is former Fury fan, and Tim Bradly, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. “Rage,” Bradley said when asked on Saturday’s televised Top Rated card, whom he blamed for the failed fight. “Fury is the one to blame. I mean, you never know what Fury is thinking. Every day is different. Honest. I’m sick of this mess.” Again, this is a man who has traditionally spoken well of Fury. In other words, Bradley is not a “hater”. However, Bradley is a man who speaks his mind in a refreshing way.
As Bradley saw it, Fury simply didn’t want to face Usyk in the ring and used contract barriers to avoid having to. “We want to see an undisputed heavyweight fight. That’s what we wanted to see, Tyson Fury,” Bradley said. “I will call this a legitimate Tyson Fury duck. He’s dodging Usyk. He didn’t even think Usyk would split 70/30. Usyk is adamant about a 50/50 split, he wants 50/50, then 60/40, and then you have Fury come in and say 70/30. They say ‘we’ll do it’, then the goalposts move again and it keeps moving.
Until recently, it seemed like Fury and Usyk were really going to take all the marbles. Both men certainly wanted to fight when they faced off late last year. Then things started pulling. And pull. And pull. And now there are no fights at all, which sadly is often the case in this age of boxing. Hopefully the two sides will come to an agreement at some point in the near future, because it will be a stain on each other’s careers if the two sides don’t get along.
