By: Sean Crose
It doesn’t happen. Or is it?
The undisputed heavyweight title fight between WBC and linear champion Tyson Fury, and WBA, WBO and IBF boxer Oleksandr Usyk was canceled last night. Although the fight was set for April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London, Fury and Usyk’s signatures ultimately never appeared on paper. Usyk promoter Alexander Krassyuk reiterated what Usyk’s team has been insisting for days, that Fury is simply making unreasonable demands. Suffice to say, a fight with must-have candidate Daniel Dubious is said to be on the next table in Usyk’s battle schedule.
Krassyuk said: “The war is over. talkSPORT, “The reason for that is that it went too far.” As the promoter explained, “it got the feeling that after Usyk accepted 70/30, Tyson Fury started thinking he could put a saddle around his neck and started riding Usyk as much as he could. It’s not right.” Krassyuk pointed out that Fury simply doesn’t want to face Usyk and is trying to find new ways to avoid sharing the ring with the Ukrainian.
“If it’s so complicated,” he said, “that Tyson tries to avoid it by putting too many obstacles before making the deal, there’s no need to put in any more effort.” However, Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren has a different opinion. “I don’t confirm it’s turned off,” he told talkSPORT. Krassyuk then started the fight and the two promoters agreed to continue talking to see if the fight could go on. “Not me,” Krassyuk said. “It was Usyk who couldn’t take it anymore, didn’t want to compromise anymore.”
If anything, the negotiations for this match show just how complicated the mind can be to make a big fight these days. However, as Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia have demonstrated, important matches can still happen.
