Speaking exclusively to Best Sports Betting Canada, Oleksandr Usyk’s camp manager Sergey Lapin has confirmed negotiations between the Ukrainian and Tyson Fury have formally concluded and fans can expect to see the unified heavyweight champion to instead fight Daniel Dubois or Filip Hrgovic.
The Brit, who holds the WBC and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles, had previously demanded a 70-30% split in negotiations for a fight to take place at Wembley Stadium on April 29.
Now, with the fight officially dead in the water, the Director of Team Usyk has his say on the negotiations and outlined the next plans for the WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champ.
Transcript
Question. What is the latest between negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury?
Sergey Lapin: “Negotiations are over. We backed ourselves and gave him everything he wanted. We accepted 70/30. We were willing to come to the UK. But he crossed the line on the rematch clause.
“Tyson Fury is a coward.Fury is not fit to call himself a champion, Muhammad Ali and the greats of the past did not behave with such cowardice.
“During talks we heard a hundred times that he will sign tomorrow and tomorrow never came. The fans should know we did everything to make this fight happen. Everyday there was a new obstacle, a new excuse not to face Usyk.”
Q. Why do you think this is?
SL: “Maybe he’s running the clock down because he’s still injured, maybe he wants to have a pretend fight with Francis Ngannou, or maybe he’s just scared that he’ll be remembered as the giant who was beaten by a middleweight.
“The only way this fight is resurrected now is if Saudi Arabia gets involved later in the year, only they have the financial resources to satisfy Fury’s animal appetite for money.
“Our team is on good terms with these guys, they were very welcoming and professional.”
Q. What is now next for Usyk?
SL: “I think that Usyk will now have a summer title defence, then we can look towards Saudi Arabia.
“Regarding Usyk’s next fight, as far as we know Daniel Dubois had an injury, it all depends on how well he recovers. Filip Hrgovic is also a valid option.”
