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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Martin Domin

John Fury confirms son Tyson walked away from Oleksandr Usyk fight

Tyson Fury DID walk away from a fight with Oleksandr Usyk - to spite Eddie Hearn and Anthony Joshua.

That is the view of Fury's dad John who has hit out at Hearn for allegedly costing his fighter a £100million deal.

Joshua had been ready to accept £15million to give up his right to a rematch with Usyk and allow the Ukrainian to fight fellow heavyweight world champion Fury.

But Fury has instead opted to face mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte, leaving Joshua to rematch Usyk.

Hearn insisted this week that Fury demanded a warm-up fight before taking on Usyk - a stance which cost him the undisputed clash.

But Fury Sr claims his son rejected the Usyk fight to get one over on his rivals.

"You know the best thing of it all? The deal was on the table for five weeks, five weeks! £15million for free, £5million for free [for Dillian Whyte] and now Tyson has done a U-turn and thought ‘f*** you lot, you’re copping it," he told talksSPORT.

Tyson Fury with Oleksandr Usyk and promoter Bob Arum (Top Rank via Getty Images)

“Eddie Hearn… he thinks he’s clever but he’s not dealt with Fury before. He’s dealt with them now and wishes he’d never heard of the Fury name. He wishes the Fury name never existed.

“He’s just blown AJ a hundred million quid and he was getting 10 per cent of all that… he’s blown himself [sic] £20million. We are laughing at you my friend. You have egg on your face!

“You want business, Eddie? You need to stop asking your old fella for advice, believe me. A ten-year-old boy could’ve put that deal together."

Fury and Whyte are set to clash in April while Joshua and Usyk will likely lock horns again the following month.

Should Tyson Fury have fought Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know in the comments section below

The winners are then expected to meet later this year to crown the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.

This week's drama comes less than a year after a fight between Fury and Joshua for all four belts fell apart at the last minute.

Fury was instead ordered to fight Deontay Wilder for a third time and went on to knock his opponent out in the 11th round.

Two weeks earlier, Joshua had lost his belts to Usyk with the challenger winning a unanimous points decision.

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