Frank Warren, co-promoter of WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, admits a unification with Oleksandr Usyk – at least for April 29 – is now a “dead duck.”
It was confirmed on Wednesday that the potential showdown had fall apart – after both sides were unable to agree on the monetary terms for the contracted rematch.
They had agreed on a 70-30 split in Fury’s favor, but reportedly Usyk was requesting a 70-30 split in his favor for the rematch – with Fury demanding a 50-50 rematch split.
Usyk’s handlers had applied a lot of pressure to have the fight go forward on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London.
However, they warned that any delay to the fight would result in a different split – which Warren believes was a tactic to get away from the match.
“[Team Usyk] said the fight must take place before 29 April and if it goes later they want different splits,” Warren said to BBC Sport.
“The reason they did that was they didn’t think Tyson would be ready for the 29th and suddenly Tyson was ready for it. He has been in training camp for two and a half weeks, got trainers in from America and they looked for a way to get out.”
Usyk, who holds the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA titles, is now obligated to three separate mandatory defenses.
He must now collide with WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois, who Warren also promotes. Then there is IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic, and then WBO mandatory challenger Joe Joyce, who has a fight scheduled next month with Zhang Zhilei.
“There is an established rota of who Usyk has to defend against,” Warren said. “That’s why after the 29th it goes away.”