Tyson Fury: Forget legacy, give me the cash
WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury 33-0-1 (24) revealed this week that his main motivation to box is money.
The 35-year-old Brit made the comments on the publicity trail to promote his 10-round non-title fight against boxing debutant and former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia on October 28.
“When I come back into boxing I said I wanted to make the most money as possible, that’s what I said to my lawyer,” Fury said.
“I didn’t come back this time for belts or titles or anything, I come back to secure my family and their family and their kids and their grandkids. And I’ve done it. I’ve done it.
“The reason why I’m even boxing anymore, when I come back was to regain the belts, which I’ve done; and two, more than that, is to get the biggest bags possible.”
Those comments will alarm boxing fans, who are clamouring for a four-belt unification bout with WBA, WBO, and IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk 21-0 (14). Failing that, a fight against longtime domestic rival and former two-time unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 26-3 (23) would suffice.
As things stand at the moment, we are more likely to see Fury lock horns with another boxing debutant current UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones next.
“I have no interest in fighting those guys, because I’m bigger than all of ’em,” Fury said of Usyk, Joshua and the broader heavyweight division.
“I’m a superstar, they’re nobodies. I’m happy, they’re not. I have everything that they want and there’s nothing they can do about it — apart from get yourself in line, get yourself mandatory by ten organizations, fight eliminator after eliminator for no money like I did.
“And take ten years getting there, and when you get there and you’ve been the lineal champion for the longest ever, then come back to me and preach.”
These aren’t the sort of comments his own co-promoter Bob Arum would like to hear. The Top Rank boss told SecondsOut in a recent interview that a fight between Fury and Usyk would cap off his illustrious Hall of Fame career.
“That [the undisputed heavyweight world title fight] is what I hope to do before I retire or end my career in boxing, is to do that unification fight,” he said.
Across the aisle,
Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk said his boxer is ready to fight Fury now, but will wait if necessary.
“If Fury wants to defeat him he would have to wait something like five years, because he will be on his top for the next two, three years, for sure. He’s 36. This is the golden era for a heavyweight.
“Don’t forget that Usyk came to boxing being 15 years old. Usyk’s camp – it’s not like just a crowd of people. These are very much experienced guys who learned throughout the whole career of Oleksandr Usyk. They know him perfectly.”
It seems the only hold up to total unification of the heavyweight division remains its most divisive figure: Fury.
