Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter has moved on to negotiating with another British heavyweight that Frank Warren’s company represents, but he still wants to make an Usyk-Tyson Fury fight.
Alex Krassyuk hopes Fury eventually realizes that it would be damaging to his legacy if he doesn’t face Usyk in a fight that would crown boxing’s first fully unified heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. Krassyuk, the head of the Klitschko brothers’ K2 Promotions, discussed the Usyk-Fury situation during a recent episode of BT Sport’s “Chatterbox” series.
“I would love to see [it], as a boxing fan,” Krassyuk told co-hosts Josh Denzel and Carl Frampton. “As Usyk’s promoter, I would love to make it happen. As just a normal Ukrainian, I would love my competitor to become the undisputed champion in a second weight division. So, from our side, it’s only plus, plus, plus. We know that Tyson Fury is a complex personality. And it’s probably not a surprise for anyone [that the fight hasn’t happened], and we can see it [through] his behavior in the last probably seven or 10 years.
“Yes, he is the [WBC] champion. Yes, he has the right to do things that he wants to do. But at the end of the day, he is a professional boxer. And his main assignment is to perform for the boxing fans. So, that is why I think if this fight does not take place, that would be one of the biggest mistakes that Tyson Fury could ever make in [his] professional boxing career.”
The 34-year-old Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) is nevertheless going to face another opponent next, reportedly either former IBF/IBO/WBA/WBO champ Andy Ruiz Jr. (35-2, 22 KOs) or Chinese contender Zhilei Zhang (25-1-1, 20 KOs). Fury’s return to the ring is tentatively scheduled for July 22 at Wembley Stadium in London.
Ukraine’s Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) is headed toward an obligatory defense of his WBA belt against Daniel Dubois. London’s Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) owns the WBA’s secondary title and is its mandatory challenger for one of the 36-year-old Usyk’s championships.
Promoters for Usyk and Dubois have until May 3 to voluntarily reach an agreement for their mandated match or the WBA will schedule a purse bid. Dubois, like Fury, is represented by Warren’s company, Queensberry Promotions.
Negotiations for an Usyk-Fury fight ended late in March, mostly over money. The targeted date for that bout was this Saturday night, April 29.
Keith Idec is a senior writer/columnist for BoxingScene.com. He can be reached on Twitter @Idecboxing.