Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk reach ‘agreement’ for undisputed heavyweight clash, WBA confirms | Boxing News

Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury have reached “agreement” for an undisputed heavyweight bout, the World Boxing Association has confirmed.

The announcement from one of the sport’s main sanctioning bodies following negotiations over the April 29 clash at Wembley has played out on social media between the pair, who currently hold four divisional titles between them.

The fight appeared to be in doubt earlier on Friday after WBC champion Fury suggested Usyk would only get 30 percent of the fight purse.

However, on Friday evening WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Usyk posted a response on social media, agreeing to Fury’s request on the condition that the Briton donates £1m to Ukraine.

Then came the WBA statement, which said: “WBA President Gilberto Mendoza received confirmation from the team of Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury that there is an agreement to make a unification fight.

“He asked for time to work on the contract to close the deal.”

It has not been confirmed whether Fury has agreed to make the proposed donation to Usyk’s native Ukraine, which has been under attack from Russia since Vladimir Putin launched an invasion in February 2022.

Earlier, Fury had said: “I see all this talk of boxing fights. They want 50 percent, Usyk and all this ‘Tyson is greedy.’

“Where I stand, Usyk, you and your team are worth 30 percent. You take it, or leave it, and if you don’t want it, fight Daniel Dubois in The Copperbox and get a few million dollars.

“You want to make real money, come and fight ‘The Gypsy King’.

“But I will say, because every day from today you stay and mess up, I will take one percent off the 30 percent.

“Every day, I will reduce one percent until you take it, and if you don’t take it, go fight Dubois for $2m. No problem.

“But how did you ever make me an offer? It’s impossible. Tick tock, tick tock.”

Usyk responded, saying: “Hey, ‘greedy stomach’, I accept your offer. 70/30 split fight with you on April 29 at Wembley.

“But you will promise to donate £1m to Ukraine immediately after the war. And for every day of delay you will pay 1 percent of your wallet to the Ukrainian people.”

Fury then angrily sent another video message asking Usyk to “sign the contract”.

Alex Krassyuk, who represents Usyk, said Fury rejected the latest offer where the champion will receive 60 percent of the purse, and questions whether the WBC champion really wants to fight.

Krassyuk told iD Boxing: “I can only speak from the words I heard from my negotiators, my partners Frank and George Warren. According to their reports, Tyson Fury asked for a lot of money.

“Even if Usyk will get zero for the fight, it still won’t be enough for Tyson to cover him [demands].

“Usually, if a fighter doesn’t want to fight, he asks for the impossible, and then it doesn’t happen. That’s according to my experience. I’ve been in boxing for almost 20 years and I’ve seen it many times. .

“When you’re looking for an opponent for a fighter and find the right choice, and he doesn’t want to come, he says, ‘pay me 100 instead of five’.”

Fury and his promoter were contacted for comment.

Usyk said on Tuesday that the fight with Fury was “very important for both of us” and that it had to happen.

“All four belts have not been held by one man,” Usyk said, pointing out that it had been two decades since the heavyweight division had an undisputed champion.

“So we both have to fight this.”

Usyk will expect Fury to be more of a challenge than Joshua. But before the undisputed champion at cruiserweight, the 36-year-old believes he can repeat the feat at heavyweight, even against Fury.

“I’m not afraid of Tyson Fury,” he said. “It’s going to be like any other fight. This is just a big guy who has never lost to someone who has the WBC belt.

“Of course it can be thrown out but the truth is that this is a normal fight for the right to win all the belts.

“If someone is bigger than me, it doesn’t mean they are stronger than me, if their arms are longer, it doesn’t mean it will be an advantage.

“I’ve been boxing since I was 15. They kept telling me that I shouldn’t be boxing. They were telling me that I’m not going to be an Olympic champion or a world champion and that I shouldn’t go to the heavyweight division.

“But this is the opinion of someone who can’t do it alone. Personally, I keep praying and moving forward. I don’t worry if I will reach my goal.

“It’s like a samurai. He doesn’t have a goal, he has a path. I have mine too.”

Shalom: Outside of Fury, Bakole will be the toughest fight for Uysk

The world is waiting for the undisputed heavyweight title fight between Fury and Usyk to come to an end.

That means the main contenders in the division are also waiting to see what opportunities may arise.

French heavyweight boxer, Olympic gold medalist Tony Yoka looks to regain his footing when he takes on former world title challenger Carlos Takam on Saturday, live. Sky Sports.

After defeating Yoka last year, Martin Bakole is ranked high in the world level. But promoter Ben Shalom believes he needs to push through the final eliminator to get the title.

“He is in a position where he feels that no one wants to fight him and he has to rely on compulsion,” Shalom said. Sky Sports.

Bakole has sparred intensively with Usyk and has tested himself against the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion.

“I spoke to Alex Krassyuk a few weeks ago and he believes Martin Bakole outside of Tyson Fury is the toughest opponent and the toughest fighter out there which speaks volumes for what he can do in the division,” Shalom said.

“We have to hope that this unification can be done and everything can start because I think that every fighter in the heavyweight division dreams of becoming a world champion, wants to fight for the world title and that’s why everyone hopes that this will happen. , and otherwise, we move on quickly.”