Tyson Fury slammed a “NO REMATCH provision” on Monday. The victor receives praise, while the vanquished are sent home empty-handed. Okay, how about that? That’s right, you fuckfaced whore.
The next twist in the drama to bring together the world’s top two heavyweights began with this sweet social media address to Oleksandr Usyk, as negotiations reach a crucial stage to finalise their April 29 battle at Wembley Stadium.
As we observed last week, the competition is on the brink of collapse, based on our conversations with key players across the business desk. Once Usyk conceded to Fury’s public demands for a 70/30 split up in his favour, it looked like the fighters had revived boxing’s most important conflict within days of going to press.
Fury returned to social media to notify everyone he has begun training for the extremely delicious competition after Usyk approved the terms, subject to a £1 million cost to Ukraine. Then, on Monday, there was this strange outburst about the rematch clause, which came right as we were starting to think the fight would possibly happen.
“Grasping stomach,” answered Usyk, who has the IBF, WBO, and WBA belts. You guys proposed the rematch clause, not me. Stop moaning and squirming, act like an adult, and either confirm the contract terms or walk away from the [WBC] Belt. I can’t afford to lose a debate, so I won’t waste time with your childish video games.
It’s understandable why Usyk’s staff would be annoyed by Fury, especially since they compromised by agreeing to take only 30% of the prize money. Despite widespread mockery of Fury’s request for no rematch, Tyson Fury being Tyson Fury, he did what he does best. Boxing Information has learned that Fury’s attorney gave him the details of the rematch clause, along with what would occur if one of them were to get injured in the meantime, when Fury grew bored and impatient sufficient to take matters into his personal hands once more.
He remembers ‘that’ fight with Anthony Joshua in 2021 not happening because of a rematch clause he had agreed to with Deontay Wilder and wants to avoid a repeat performance. We have no doubts about Fury’s desire for combat, but he may be becoming weary of waiting for the conditions necessary for bouts of this magnitude.
Where exactly are we at this point? As this issue goes to print on March 14th, all parties have agreed to meet and discuss the final contract, after which they will have one week to come to an understanding. It is not expected that the rematch clause will derail the contestants even if Staff Usyk insists on it. Even if the finer points are complicated, it is in the best interest of both fighters to have them.
Although the expense to Ukraine mentioned above has been questioned as a potential stumbling block by some media outlets, on the whole, the opinion is that this won’t happen. Fury, however, cannot simply hand over a large sum of money without first ascertaining its destination and potential uses. Instead than buying weapons for the Ukrainian government, it would seem that donations to charity would be more appropriate.
As a result, we’re feeling much better than we did a week ago at this time. The mood now is much more upbeat than it was back then. Now we can only hope for the best and wait. And that’s really all any of us can do while being very aware that every sound we hear, personal and otherwise, is designed to prepare us for the worst. Both the Staff Fury and the Staff Usyk make it plain that they rely on the contests and that failure to do so is entirely the responsibility of the other group.
Let’s not forget that April 29 is only six weeks away. In spite of the fact that this is a self-selling competition, business owners need to act quickly to ensure that it receives the attention it deserves. Not even for us…