Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk reckons Tyson Fury is ‘not ready’ to fight him after rejecting their latest proposal on the table.
Krassyuk has been trying to make a blockbuster heavyweight title undisputed bout between Usyk and Fury after both men expressed interest in fighting each other later this year.
According to Krassyuk, he offered the Gypsy King a 60-40 purse split, which would give the winner the lion’s share of the prize money.
However, he apparently turned that down, having also rejected an even 50-50 split.
And Krassyuk has accused Fury of essentially holding out for more money.
Describing the situation to talkSPORT yesterday, he said: “Frank Warren said he’s got a pot and he needs to get the agreement of both parties to participate, and if the money in the pot is not enough it won’t happen.
“I completely agree with it. On our side, we have nothing more to add.
“We are not asking for a figure, we are asking for a split and probably the split doesn’t work well if someone is asking for a figure, and I can definitely say that it’s not our party.
“We have said that we want this fight to happen as much as possible and we are in the position to share whatever the fight generates. If it generates a lot, then we are happy to share it. If it doesn’t, it is what it is.
“But it’s all about the glory, it’s all about the legacy, it’s all about the huge thing, the fight has never happened before so we are really thirsty to make it happen.
“But boxing is a sport of two men and if only Usyk gets into the ring, there won’t be a match for undisputed. It will be shadowboxing of the unified champion.
“What can I say? We are open, we are ready to go, maybe someone wants to avoid the danger and to stay in a comfortable position. I don’t know and I really don’t care.
“If Tyson doesn’t show up, we still have the belts and we go our way.
“We initially agreed for 50/50. But then Tyson was asking for some bigger money. So we made it clear that we are ready to go 60/40, but the winner takes 60.
“That was our latest offer [but Fury turned it down], exactly.
“I am experienced and I’ve been here for a while. Normally when a fighter does not want to take a fight, he asks for something impossible so it doesn’t take place. On the other side, I’m really optimistic.
“Maybe Tyson is not ready yet. Maybe he’s is not ready mentally, maybe he’s not ready physically, whatever, I don’t know and we don’t really care.
“We want to make it happen. If he doesn’t want it, we can’t make him want it.
“So what can I say? The fight should happen someday.”
