The father of heavyweight titlist Tyson Fury has offered a stern warning to Oleksandr Usyk.
The outspoken John Fury recently offered a blustery two cents on the ongoing negotiations between his son and Usyk, the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO heavyweight champion from Ukraine, saying that Usyk does not deserve to be remunerated equally.
“Again, treat Tyson like a great champion he is,” John Fury told iD Boxing. “Stop being, trying to be the A-side. Usyk is not Tyson’s equal. Fall in line, you’ll get the fight done. Do not respect Tyson, you won’t get the fight. Simple as that.”
Recently, Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, insisted that his side would not accept a financial proposal less than a 50-50 split. Fury is promoted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry in the UK and Bob Arum’s Top Rank in the US.
It’s not apparent that John Fury has an actual role in negotiations, but that did not stop him from insisting that Usyk’s supposed intransigence could kill the fight.
“Tyson’s the A-side,” he continued. “Usyk is not worthy of 50-50. He couldn’t sell the [20,000-seat] O2 [arena] out. So, fall in line and you might get the fight.”
The two fighters have been locked into talks for months and after what appeared to be a mostly seamless series of interactions, the conversations hit a road bump recently once it became clear the Middle East would no longer be the destination for their undisputed heavyweight matchup.
The organizers have instead pivoted to the United Kingdom, where London’s Wembley Stadium is considered to be the frontrunner. The financial dynamics have also changed for the fighters, and not exactly for the better. Whereas they would have been paid top dollar through separate arrangements from investors had the fight take place in Saudi Arabia, the fighters now have to “share the pot” generated from the gate, pay-per-view sales, and ancillary revenue streams.