With nearly the entirety of the boxing world solely pinpointing Tyson Fury as the cause for the negotiations of the Heavyweight undisputed bout between Oleksandr Usyk and himself breaking down, Alex Krassyk ― Usyk’s promoter ― cleared the air as to what happened during his latest interview.
“We pulled out of the negotiations.” Alex Krassyk said with no hint of uncertainty. “Usyk pulled out of the negotiations, we initiated that.“
Though this news was already confirmed by Krassyk in earlier interviews, the public had been content in using Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KO’s) as a scapegoat, without taking into account that there were other factors or parties that led directly for the match to be canceled.
Alex Krassyk didn’t just leave it at that as he attempted to clarify what led to Oleksandr Usyk’s (20-0, 13 KO’s) decision in he first place. He went on to use an analogy where he likened Usyk wanting the Tyson Fury fight to someone wanting a luxury car.
“The devil was in the details.” Krassyk explained. “He comes and says, you have to pay one million but you’ll also need to cover the insurance costs that I had in the past, plus all the costs of the fuel that I filled within the time I used the car. Pay the rent for my house, pay my son’s education and many, many other things like that.
“At the final point he tells you that you can only drive this car and you have no right to own it or dispose of it. At this point you realize that this deal is not fair.“
To summarize, Krassyk seems to have been implying that Tyson Fury made negotiations very difficult with his demands. Though neither Usyk’s or Fury’s promoters have gone into details about the contract discussions ― due to legal ramifications, Krassyk’s story suggests Fury’s demands were an indicator of him either being too greedy, or not wanting the fight (the latter of which Krassyk himself had predicted in another interview).
Krassyk also alleges that Tyson Fury did not actually go to a training camp given his trainer, SugarHill Steward, was absent in order to prepare Lawrence Okolie (19-0, 14 KO’s) for his past March 25th fight against David Light (20-1, 12 KO’s), and Fury had no sparring partners available. This directly contradicts Fury’s own claims of starting his training camp.
Alex Krassyk also shed light on what happened when the negotiations switched to the final phase which revolved around the rematch clause. Krassyk also referenced the head-to-head conversation he had with Frank Warren, Fury’s promoter, on Talk Sport where he had mentioned that it would take some time to hash out the smaller details of the rematch clause.
“There were a number of things ― and I mentioned it on Talk Sport ― that it would take some time to list the smaller issues. Frank was right, we did have the conversation and we had to compromise, and we did compromise on each and every point.” Krassyk stated.
“When it came to the rematch it was too much to compromise.”
Usyk’s promoter also admitted his own feelings about the match actually occurring was a “rollercoaster” with him being completely sure one day, and then unsure the next. It also seemed as if he regarded Tyson Fury’s sudden Instagram rants about Usyk needing to take a 70-30 split as the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“He didn’t inform Queensberry about that. He just jumped in bluffing. Usyk called his bluff and now he has to keep his word, but if you don’t want to keep your word you will try to find a way out.” Krassyk said about the social media squabble between Fury and Usyk over the 70-30 split.
Krassyk referenced a number of small issues that led to Usyk pulling out, but later seemed to also imply that Oleksandr Usyk seemed to believe that Tyson Fury was simply playing mind games while having no intention towards actually fighting Usyk on April 29th.
“One of the reasons Usyk felt like the fight was not taking place was after he read Tyson’s book. This book says that Fury used these tactics in the past just to get inside the head of his opponents. So Usyk was quite sure this was one of the tactics Tyson’s using, and he didn’t want to become the victim, to some extent.” Krassyk explained. “Usyk said, ‘let’s stop it. The sooner we stop it, the less we lose.’ “
Though the undisputed Heavyweight fight between Fury and Usyk has been cancelled, there is still hope that a future bout might occur. Krassyk seemed open to the idea of negotiating for a fight again but was intent on ensuring that the split and rematch clause were properly negotiated.
The topic of Usyk potentially facing Daniel Dubois (19-1, 18 KO’s) next ― with talks between both sides having been confirmed by Frank Warren, who is also Dubois’ promoter himself ― was also brought up. Krassyk confirmed talks were ongoing, but also seemed uncertain on whether the fight could materialize due to the apparent injury Dubois suffered in his last fight with Kevin Lerena (28-2, 14 KO’s).
“We have to move forward to our mandatory. Our first mandatory is Daniel Dubois, the WBA ‘Regular’ champion.” Krassyk confirmed. “We all saw what happened with Daniel in the last fight. He almost lost it. Only because of his character he could stand up and finish the fights, but he suffered a severe injury. It will take some time to recover.
“That’s why we are now trying to find out how severe his injury was, and if is he really fit to fight.“
Krassyk continued to express he wanted Dubois to be at his best health-wise during his training camp and during his match with Usyk. Taking into account that Dubois might not be available to fight, Krassyk also indicated Usyk had another mandatory opponent, Filip Hrgovic (15-0. 12 KO’s), ready step in if a fight with Dubouis couldn’t materialize.
With Hrgovic’s position as the Heavyweight IBF mandatory challenger, Filip Hrgovic would be next in line if a Dubois fight is not able to occur this year. In any case, it seems like Usyk is ready for both opponents, and all too willing to defend his titles against whoever is slated to be his next combatant.
