Eddie Hearn wants the public to wake up to what he feels is a charade from Tyson Fury.
The Matchroom head let out some steam recently when he was asked about the protracted negotiations between Manchester, England’s Fury, the WBC heavyweight titlist, and Oleksandr Usyk, the WBO, WBA, IBF, and IBO champion from Ukraine.
Financial issues have prevented the organizers from completing a deal to see what would be an historic occasion: the undisputed heavyweight championship.
Hearn, apparently convinced that Fury is to blame for the holdup, pointed to the fact that his star charge, Anthony Joshua, fought Usyk two times in a row—without an iota of issues during negotiations.
“Anthony Joshua fought Oleksandr Usyk back-to-back, no f—ing problems,” Hearn told iFL TV. “No questions. No long negotiations. That’s my mandatory, I’ll fight him. Everyone said, ‘Swerve Oleksandr Usyk, he’s a tough, tough fight. You don’t want to fight him.’ AJ said, No, give me Usyk.’ Done. The rematch comes in. ‘Oh you don’t want to fight Usyk, you need a warm-up fight.’ [Joshua said,] ‘Give me Usyk.’
“When are you guys out there going to start understanding—(mimicking Fury) ‘It’s not about the money, I’ll fight him for free, as long as the tickets are free for the general public.’ F— off. You want money, you want too much money, you’re not the draw you think you are. That fight’s not as big as you think it is.”
Usyk-Fury talks went south after the promoters—Fury is backed by Las Vegas-based Top Rank and England-based Queensberry—were unable to consummate a deal with investors from Saudi Arabia, where both fighters would have been paid handsomely. Now that the fight has pivoted to London’s Wembley Arena on April 29, the payouts are accordingly smaller.
Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, recently expressed doubt that April 29 is still viable for the fight.
Fury went on social media on Thursday to insist that Usyk deserved only a 30% split against his 70% from the revenue of the fight.
Hearn patted himself on the back, saying he is the only promoter of note who has promoted shows in the Middle East. Hearn has staged three heavyweight championship boxing matches in the Middle East, all three featuring Joshua, including the two fights with Usyk.
“Everyone talks about big fights in the Middle East for the heavyweight world championship, well guess what? There’s only one person who has delivered big fights in the Middle East, and that is moi,” Hearn said. “Three fights. Three world heavyweight championship fights. Two in Saudi Arabia, and also the big card in Abu Dhabi as well.”
Hearn went on, needling Fury for his “greed.”
“Greed,” Hearn said when asked why negotiations continue to drag on. “If you are about legacy, if you want to be about undisputed. Oh so you’re going to get $50 million instead of the $80 or $100 or $125 million you asked for. F— me. You’ve all been played through all these years. But concentrate on one thing: April the 1st, AJ is back against Jermaine Franklin. Never ducked anybody, never tried to escape fights, always wanted the fights, fought all these people in progression … never went on social media saying I’m gonna give all my money away. F— right off. Get behind Anthony Joshua.”