Oleksandr Usyk To Tyson Fury: “I’m ready to fight you even without the prize money!”

By: Sean Crose

With the fighting world awaiting a bout between WBC and online heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, and WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight boxer Oleksandr Usyk, Fury took the trouble to penetrate Usyk’s head – like the way he did with Usyk’s Ukrainian colleague, Wladimir Klitschko, before their 2015 game. However, Usyk is not Klitschko. Instead of just pretending to ignore Fury, Usyk decided to take the opportunity and meet Fury on his field. Calling the super-large Fury “Belly”, Usyk mocked the boxer dubbed the “King of Gypsy” on social networks. On Tuesday, however, things took a different turn.

“Fury,” Usyk writes, “you talk about greatness in Boxing. At the same time you say ‘give me a lot of money.’ Greatness in Boxing is not determined by money, greatness comes from winning.” Oh. But the undefeated Usyk wasn’t done yet. “You say I avoid you, even though I never have, and in fact, I even came to you. I’m ready to fight you even without any bonus!” A bold statement, sure, one that could be true – it’s not that Usyk and Fury won’t be paid well if/when their expected fight comes to fruition.

With that in mind, Usyk’s post indicates that there could be some friction in contract negotiations between his team and Team Fury. The information surrounding the campfire is that the match is almost complete, so it may not be wise to look too deeply into Usyk’s statement. However, in boxing – especially contemporary boxing – can never be too certain. Needless to say, there is little doubt that Fury will respond to Usyk’s post in one way or another. After all, this is a guy who loves fencing outside the ring as well as inside it. And he may have found his perfect fighting partner in Usyk.