Tyson Fury has mocked Oleksandr Usyk for taking what amounts to more than a 50 per cent cut in pay for his upcoming heavyweight title defence.
Usyk and Fury were deep in talks for a bout on April 29 at Wembley Stadium this year, but that date came and went without the pair meeting. And it now appears they are as far away as ever from making that fight happen, with Usyk gearing up to face Daniel Dubois this August in a mandatory defence of his WBA belt.
Fury is currently talking to a number of potential opponents, with Anthony Joshua and Demsey McKean both named as potential bouts. But none of those fights would have earned either the Brit or the Ukrainian as much money as an undisputed fight, the first at heavyweight in the four belt era, with Fury mocking Usyk for making less than half the money to face Dubois.
In a response to Queensberry head of content and presenter Dev Sahni, Fury took aim at Usyk in an Instagram story post where he claimed that the Ukrainian was due to make £13m for their meeting. "Fact is he is a b**** a** p**** boy," he wrote. "Ran from £13million and now taking $6million [around £4.8million]. Joker."
Sahni had written on Twitter about the value of the fight, noting that Usyk was making the type of money for his next defence that would more than justify Fury's demand of a 70/30 purse split. "Usyk v Dubois winning purse bid - $8m (3 belts on the line) Fury v Whyte winning purse bid - $42m (1 belt on the line)," he said.
Do you think Oleksandr Usyk should have taken the April fight with Tyson Fury? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"If ever there was a demonstration into the value of the belts in a negotiation with a superstar, it’s here. It’s about how much of a draw you are. A 70-30 split of a pot for a fight in the UK between Fury and Usyk was actually a little generous to Usyk if you really look at it."
At a 70-30 split, Fury would then be claiming that he was due to earn over £30m for his part in the bout, while Usyk would have taken home £13m. And while that is an impressive figure, it would still have amounted to a pay cut from the amount that either man would have expected for a bout in Saudi Arabia, which had been touted for some point this year.
Usyk is believed to have made considerably more than even Fury's purse for his defence against Anthony Joshua in Jeddah last summer. He is said to have pocketed as much as £40-50m after dethroning the Brit for just a fraction of that in London the previous September.
