Mike CoppingerESPN5 Minute Reading
Tyson Fury defeated Derek Chisora by TKO to defend his titles
Tyson Fury defended his heavyweight title by defeating Derek Chisora in their trilogy bout by technical knockout.
Next month’s proposed undisputed heavyweight championship fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium in London is in jeopardy as the fighters continue to negotiate deal points beyond a 70-30 split in favor of Fury for net income, sources told ESPN.
Usyk has closed his training camp, according to sources, and will reunite with his team to plan his next fight. The 36-year-old Ukrainian holds the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles while Fury is the WBC champion.
Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, and Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, discussed the stalled negotiations in a joint radio interview Wednesday on Talksport. Warren said he received an email Tuesday from Usyk’s manager, Egis Klimas, saying “Team Usyk is no longer in further negotiations.”
“The match was stopped,” Krassyuk said. “The reason for that is it went too far. There was a feeling that after Usyk accepted 70-30, Tyson Fury started thinking that he could put a saddle around his neck and start riding Usyk as much as he can. It’s not right. I mean, Usyk accepted the 70-30 split as respect.
” … If it was so complicated that Tyson tried to avoid it by putting so many obstacles in front while making the deal, there was no need to put in any extra effort and we just went on our way. … There was a list of things [Fury] wants to win his favor which is totally unacceptable, which is totally disrespectful to the united [heavyweight] champion and former undisputed [cruiserweight] champion.”
Warren, however, said the sides had ironed out all issues on Sunday except for the division of the rematch’s net proceeds. According to sources, the sides have agreed on a bilateral rematch clause which can be triggered by the loser. Usyk’s side pushed for the same 70-30 split, but in his favor, for a return against the United Kingdom should he beat Fury.
Fury has asked for a 50-50 split in the UK, where he is a major star, if he suffers his first professional defeat, sources said. When Usyk signed to fight Anthony Joshua in September 2021 in London — a fight he won to capture three heavyweight titles — the rematch clause Joshua continued to exercise included a 50-50 split, according to sources. source.
The rematch clause issue only pertains to a rematch against the UK If the rematch takes place in the Middle East, where large site fees are common for big boxing events, each side will make its own deal. Usyk and Joshua went to Saudi Arabia for their rematch in August 2022, which Usyk also won by decision. Fury and Usyk held talks with officials from Saudi Arabia before turning their attention to the UK
Last week, Fury posted a video on Twitter with a message to Usyk: “What if there’s no rematch clause for both of us? … Don’t worry about what’s in the future or how many dollars what you can get after you lose. Worry about the fight. No rematch clause. Winner takes the glory, the loser goes home. How about that? Agree to that.”
Usyk quickly responded: “Greedy Belly … the clause comes from your side, not mine. Stop whining and avoiding. Be a man.”
That was three days after representatives of Fury and Usyk informed WBA president Gilberto Mendoza that a tentative agreement had been reached hours before the 5 pm ET deadline on March 10 to stop the order for a Usyk-Dubois fight that would have ruined the plans. Three mandatory challengers are waiting for their shot at Usyk, but England’s Daniel Dubois is ahead in the rotation system used for boxing’s unified champion.
The WBA then set an April 1 deadline to receive signed contracts. Now, the WBA is poised to order a fight between Usyk and Dubois unless a last-ditch effort can be made to save the fight against Fury.
“Rematch clauses can be very difficult, and Tyson has been there before when a rematch got in the way of a fight between him and Anthony Joshua when Deontay Wilder took him to court,” Warren said, referring to 2021 arbitration decision that led to Wilder’s third Fury-Fight. “Anyway, I convinced Tyson to take the rematch [with Usyk] and he did.
“Then we got into a situation with how is the rematch money gonna be split and that’s what we’ve been working on. … Why can’t this be overcome if [Usyk] want a fight? We want the fight, why not win it? … There is no reason for this fight to end.”
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) stayed busy in December with a 10th-round TKO of Derek Chisora to retain his heavyweight title. After Fury stopped Dillian Whyte in six rounds in April, he announced his retirement, but it only lasted four months.
Fury, 34, defeated another Ukrainian, Wladimir Klitschko, to win the unified heavyweight championship in 2015. He was out of the ring for nearly three years as he battled alcohol and substance abuse along with depression. During that time, Fury’s weight increased to 400 pounds.
Fury returned to the ring with two wins against soft opposition before he survived two knockdowns against Wilder to settle for a draw in a fight that most observers believed he won. Fury had no doubts in the rematch, a seventh-round TKO to win the WBC title. The trilogy fight, which Fury won via 11th-round KO, was named ESPN’s Fight of the Year and Knockout of the Year for 2021.
Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) won the undisputed cruiserweight championship with a unanimous decision victory over Murat Gassiev in 2018 before moving up to heavyweight in 2019. The Olympic gold medalist defeated Chisora in his second heavyweight fight before he signed for a fight with Anthony Joshua for three heavyweight titles.