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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Alex Young

Tyson Fury blamed as Oleksandr Usyk superfight talks break down again

Talks over Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk's unification superfight have again broken down, with the Ukrainian fighter's manager blaming the 'Gypsy King'.

The two fighters' camps have been locked in talks - and social media taunting - to agree a deal to crown the heavyweight division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.

Usyk, the IBF, WBO and WBA champion, even agreed to Fury's 70-30 split in the Brit's favour and a date at Wembley for April 29 was provisionally set but, according to reports, "other material terms critical to the deal beyond the split" could not be agreed upon.

A new deadline of April 1 to reach an agreement has been set, but Usyk is understood to have shut down his training camp.

"No matter how much Usyk compromised, he was pushed for more," Usyk’s manager, Egis Klimas, told boxing reporter Steve Kim.

Daniel Dubois is next in line to fight Usyk and the Ukrainian’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, has previously talked up the possibility of the bout.

"This is actually what’s next for Usyk," he told iD Boxing earlier this month. "So what can I say? We have to comply with it. It’s probably not the worst fight for the UK. Dubois is English.

"Usyk fought a couple times here, so he’s probably a bit known. This is a fight where an Englishman is fighting for three belts at heavyweight. It’s a bit more than just a normal heavyweight fight.

"Because Usyk and Tyson and all this stuff occurred, that’s why it doesn’t look that big because we have something to compare with. On the other hand, it’s still huge."

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