Tyson Fury isn’t too concerned that he has a relatively short window of time to prepare for the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Fury, the WBC titlist from Manchester, England, indicated on Saturday that he had begun his training camp for a proposed fight with WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO champion Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine on April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London.
In a video posted on his social media, Fury showed himself going for a run, while declaring that he only needs a month-and-a-half to whip himself into fighting shape.
“Good morning people of the world,” Fury said. “Today is the first day of my training for the Usyk fight. I don’t need six months or four months and all that. I got six weeks and a week rest, done, happy days.
“And I’m going to impose my will on this little sneaky motherf—– (Usyk). Get up lads, cannot wait. Rule Britannia. Get ’em.”
A deal has not been finalized, as negotiations between Fury and Usyk have taken on a largely contentious air in recent weeks, stemming from the fighters’ purse demands. But Fury’s post would seem to corroborate positive news circulated by the World Boxing Association on Friday that the fighters had reached an agreement. Shortly upon issuing a deadline for Usyk to face his mandatory Daniel Dubois, the WBA indicated that it had received a statement from the fighters’ promoters insisting that they had agreed on terms and that, most importantly, Usyk had accepted a financial split of 70/30 that favors Fury.
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) went on social media earlier in the week and issued an ultimatum to Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) to accept a 70/30 split. Usyk then accepted, with the caveat that Fury donate £1 million to the Ukrainian war effort against Russia.
Up until that point, Fury promoter Frank Warren and Usyk promoter Aleksandr Krassyuk, both communicated varying levels of doubt to the press that the fight could get made.
An Usyk-Fury showdown could lead to the first fully unified heavyweight champion in more than two decades.