I can’t say I’m shocked (or even mildly surprised). Everything would have to have gone off perfectly to make April 29 and they rarely do in fights of this magnitude. I don’t begrudge Fury his demands for the planned fight for 4/29. He’s the lineal champ and has that right. Fine. However, trying to claim a 70/30 split in his favor in a rematch after a fight he LOST?? That’s ludicrous. Maybe he felt like Usyk would just fold to get the 4/29 fight done, but I’m glad he didn’t. If Usyk wins the fight (if it ever happens) then he’s the lineal champ and HE gets to call the shots.
I agree with your comments. The winner of the first fight should get the 70 percent of the purse for the rematch. Fury is greedy and illogical.
On a side note, I struggle to accept that Fury remains the lineal champ. After his victory over Klitscho, he fell into a deep depression that he ultimately worked his way out of. Great that he did but the heavyweight division needed to move on (whilst he got his life back in order). He was out of the ring for more that 2 1/2 years. Effectively he was retired. He was the undefeated former champ when he came back.
Agreed - the lineal champ business Fury claims has always been ridiculous.
Fury retired rather than give Wlad the contracted rematch.
Strange how the subsequent long bout of deep depression delayed his appearance in front of the National Anti-Doping Panel long enough to afford him certain legal advantages due to the time taken to convene the panel.
I could go on but it’s all just part of Fury being Fury…..unfortunately.
I'm amazed that, after all this time negotiating, they've managed to screw up the first chance of having an undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. I very much doubt there'll be a chance of doing this for a long time as there's mandatories set up for the 3 belts Usyk holds.
Considering Fury is getting the good end of 70:30 for the first fight, the only fair arrangement for the rematch was for whoever won the first fight to get the good end of a 70:30 split. Although #GreedyBelly didn't agree that this was fair of course.
Warren says Fury didn't want a rematch clause, which can only be because he was so confident of winning the first fight. But if that's the case, why does the rematch split for Usyk winning the first fight matter to Fury?
It clearly matters very much to Fury and so he must really think there's a chance that Usyk could win the first fight - in which case it can't be true that he didn't really want a rematch clause.
Unless he had plans to retire if he lost to Usyk and wouldn't try to regain the belts - imo very unlikely.
You make some great points, Ozzy! I think Fury wanted to retire if he won the 1st fight, that's why he didn't want the rematch. Then Warren convinced him to take the rematch clause, but he clearly didn't, if he had wanted 50% of the purse against someone who has 4 belts (historic achievement). Usyk asked for 70%, which is fair, but considering it's Fury, maybe he could've been a bit more flexible (60-40 maybe?). Anyway, maybe we are looking for someone to blame (which is maybe unfair), because we all wanted this fight, but I think Fury has the most to do with this situation.
I’ve got to admit that I’m fed up of Tyson Fury’s antics Mark.
He’s been doing these negotiation shenanigans for years now.
As far as I’m concerned Usyk really tried to make the fight by giving Fury the split he asked for and Usyk’s rematch requests were reasonable and fairly standard for such a big fight.
Whoever is to blame, nothing can be done about it now. Thankfully we have the Spence vs Crawford fight to look forward to….. DOH! 🤣
You're right, Ozzy. And the way Warren was talking shows the amount of baby-sitting he needs to do with Fury. It's a damn shame, because it would've been a historic event, and (in my opinion) Fury messed it up.
You know what happened? Boxing. Boxing happened. That's the sad part about this sport.
Dan, what are your thoughts about the idea Fury is “ducking” Usyk by placing these hurdles.
It’s hard to say Fury would duck him or anyone based off his resume of fighters. Are these request common in negotiations? Do they seem radical enough that maybe Fury would implement them to avoid Usyk?
I also feel that other reporters may have signaled that this deal was done and ready to go a little prematurely and now fans are left standing wondering what went wrong. Even though 4/29 was quickly approaching.
Sugar Hill said very clearly that his return to the US after the Okolie fight was already booked for 28 March. He was not in the UK to train Fury after he finishes with Oklolie. The first fight was never on in the first place. Don't get distracted that this supposed cancellation due to Fury's greed about wanting to get 50-50 if he loses the first fight.
I can’t say I’m shocked (or even mildly surprised). Everything would have to have gone off perfectly to make April 29 and they rarely do in fights of this magnitude. I don’t begrudge Fury his demands for the planned fight for 4/29. He’s the lineal champ and has that right. Fine. However, trying to claim a 70/30 split in his favor in a rematch after a fight he LOST?? That’s ludicrous. Maybe he felt like Usyk would just fold to get the 4/29 fight done, but I’m glad he didn’t. If Usyk wins the fight (if it ever happens) then he’s the lineal champ and HE gets to call the shots.
I agree with your comments. The winner of the first fight should get the 70 percent of the purse for the rematch. Fury is greedy and illogical.
On a side note, I struggle to accept that Fury remains the lineal champ. After his victory over Klitscho, he fell into a deep depression that he ultimately worked his way out of. Great that he did but the heavyweight division needed to move on (whilst he got his life back in order). He was out of the ring for more that 2 1/2 years. Effectively he was retired. He was the undefeated former champ when he came back.
Agreed - the lineal champ business Fury claims has always been ridiculous.
Fury retired rather than give Wlad the contracted rematch.
Strange how the subsequent long bout of deep depression delayed his appearance in front of the National Anti-Doping Panel long enough to afford him certain legal advantages due to the time taken to convene the panel.
I could go on but it’s all just part of Fury being Fury…..unfortunately.
I'm amazed that, after all this time negotiating, they've managed to screw up the first chance of having an undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. I very much doubt there'll be a chance of doing this for a long time as there's mandatories set up for the 3 belts Usyk holds.
Considering Fury is getting the good end of 70:30 for the first fight, the only fair arrangement for the rematch was for whoever won the first fight to get the good end of a 70:30 split. Although #GreedyBelly didn't agree that this was fair of course.
Warren says Fury didn't want a rematch clause, which can only be because he was so confident of winning the first fight. But if that's the case, why does the rematch split for Usyk winning the first fight matter to Fury?
It clearly matters very much to Fury and so he must really think there's a chance that Usyk could win the first fight - in which case it can't be true that he didn't really want a rematch clause.
Unless he had plans to retire if he lost to Usyk and wouldn't try to regain the belts - imo very unlikely.
You make some great points, Ozzy! I think Fury wanted to retire if he won the 1st fight, that's why he didn't want the rematch. Then Warren convinced him to take the rematch clause, but he clearly didn't, if he had wanted 50% of the purse against someone who has 4 belts (historic achievement). Usyk asked for 70%, which is fair, but considering it's Fury, maybe he could've been a bit more flexible (60-40 maybe?). Anyway, maybe we are looking for someone to blame (which is maybe unfair), because we all wanted this fight, but I think Fury has the most to do with this situation.
If Fury had won and wanted to retire, couldn't he just retire rematch clause or not?
That’s exactly what Fury did when he was supposed to give Wlad his rematch.
The problem of course is that Fury retires at the drop of a hat and then decides to come back.
I’ve got to admit that I’m fed up of Tyson Fury’s antics Mark.
He’s been doing these negotiation shenanigans for years now.
As far as I’m concerned Usyk really tried to make the fight by giving Fury the split he asked for and Usyk’s rematch requests were reasonable and fairly standard for such a big fight.
Whoever is to blame, nothing can be done about it now. Thankfully we have the Spence vs Crawford fight to look forward to….. DOH! 🤣
You're right, Ozzy. And the way Warren was talking shows the amount of baby-sitting he needs to do with Fury. It's a damn shame, because it would've been a historic event, and (in my opinion) Fury messed it up.
You know what happened? Boxing. Boxing happened. That's the sad part about this sport.
So lame. And it looks like we don’t even have Wilder vs Ruiz anymore. I thought this was supposed to be another golden age for the heavyweights?
Well that’s disappointing. I would guess Fury has a legit fear that he could be outdanced.
Dan, what are your thoughts about the idea Fury is “ducking” Usyk by placing these hurdles.
It’s hard to say Fury would duck him or anyone based off his resume of fighters. Are these request common in negotiations? Do they seem radical enough that maybe Fury would implement them to avoid Usyk?
I also feel that other reporters may have signaled that this deal was done and ready to go a little prematurely and now fans are left standing wondering what went wrong. Even though 4/29 was quickly approaching.
Sugar Hill said very clearly that his return to the US after the Okolie fight was already booked for 28 March. He was not in the UK to train Fury after he finishes with Oklolie. The first fight was never on in the first place. Don't get distracted that this supposed cancellation due to Fury's greed about wanting to get 50-50 if he loses the first fight.
They are both greedy it won’t worry fury he will make big money fighting joe Joyce in the summer which will be a better fight than the usyk fight