Breaking news this morning in the world of heavyweight boxing is the mega-hyped fight between The Gypsy King and Usyk, billed for April 29th is officially off.
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Boxing fans, in particular Tyson Fury fans, are left feeling frustrated once again. It is reported the demands Fury has been making in order to confirm the fight can go ahead have been unreasonable and impossible to meet. The purse split of 70 (Fury) 30 (Usyk) had previously been accepted by both fighters, which in my mind was a crazy wide split and I believe Fury thought would never be accepted by Usyk’s camp. However, arguments over a rematch clause on Fury’s side along with fight night demands could not be agreed upon has resulted in the long-awaited undisputed heavyweight championship being called off.
Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas has now declared “No matter how much we compromised, Fury pushed for more”.
Oleksandr Usyk is said to have stopped his training camp and is now plotting his next fight which likely to be his mandatory WBA challenger Dubois in possibly June/July.
The WBA had extended their deadline until April for Fury vs Usyk to be agreed, or they would order Usyk’s next mandatory title defense.
The Ukrainian holds the WBA, WBO and IBF world heavyweight titles, while Fury has the WBC and Ring Magazine belts.
Tyson Fury’s promotor, Frank Warren, has yet to publicly address reasons for the collapse of the fight however has suggested a resolution could be resurrected within 24 hours. Personally, I am not hopeful this will happen at all, or if the fight will ever happen.
It is understandable fight fans are becoming disillusioned with boxing and are moving interest over to UFC in their droves. Whenever a big fight is ‘announced’ fans are hesitant to get excited due to the likelihood of the fight not ever coming to fruition; the Fury v Joshua heavyweight showdown is another perfect example. Another huge, highly-anticipated match-up which is now unlikely to ever to place.
The tolerance for the sheer amount of time it takes to put on a high profile fight, both sides of a boxers camp blaming each other for one thing or another, the murky side of purse splits and substance abuse claims is wearing very thin for fight fans across the world.
A heavyweight boxing match we do have to look forward to (I hope I haven’t just jinxed it!) is Anthony Joshua’s quest to become a three-time heavyweight champion on April 1st against Jermaine Franklin at the O2 Arena in London.
Billed as a ‘new dawn’ for AJ after losing 3 of his last 5 fights, the upcoming clash feels like a warm-up fight for him to face Dillion Whyte in a rematch bout eight years after clinching a 7-round stoppage win.
Things had turned sour for Joshua in recent years; he dumped two trainers and is on his third, seeing him team up with American coach Derrick James in hopes he can find the magic formula to return to his best and AJ of old.
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