Usyk Slams Fury, Eddie Hearn Outraged

Oleksandr Usyk has slammed Tyson Fury for choosing to fight Francis Ngannou. 

The ‘Gypsy King’ swerved the opportunity to fight the Ukrainian for the undisputed championship only to fight the former UFC heavyweight champion who will be making his boxing debut.

Prior to that, Fury and Usyk were in negotiations for a bout in April only for the talks to break down.

This was despite the unified heavyweight champion agreeing to take a 70-30 split against him.

However, disagreements over the purse split in the rematch failed. Usyk allegedly wanted 70-30 in return for the winner, while Fury was adamant over a 50-50 split. 

And now Usyk has called out the Gypsy King’s tactics. 

“The guy [Ngannou] is going to earn some decent money. For Francis Ngannou, this is a great opportunity, but for Tyson Fury, it’s definitely not. Doesn’t it seem strange that instead of choosing a top-10 guy, he is choosing someone who has never boxed before? Yes, of course! Of course. Greedy belly [Fury] is afraid of me,” Usyk 

Much in the same way, Eddie Hearn has had his say on the matter. The Matchroom Boxing promoter stated that the Ngannou fight was a negative cloud over boxing.

This is despite the fact that the promoter had tried to make an Ngannou fight with Anthony Joshua. However, the Brit had reportedly told Hearn that he was not interested in the bout which is why the interest had fallen. 

As such, Hearn felt that the negatives outweighed the spectacle. 

“I took the (Ngannou) fight to AJ. He wasn’t interested. But I knew that there was a chance that [Ngannou] could fight someone. I think it’s terrible for boxing, because obviously there was a chance to make the undisputed fight (between Fury and Usyk),” Hearn

But before talks over Fury can emerge, Usyk must overcome Daniel Dubois on August 26th, 2023.

Usyk arrives into the bout as the clear favorite having beaten Joshua back-to-back. Meanwhile, Dubois’ last fight was fraught with challenges.

Despite stopping Kevin Lerena, the Brit hit the deck on three occasions and injured his knee. As such, both fighters know victory is key. 

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