Usyk may pull out of bout with Tyson Fury
World champion Oleksandr Usyk‘s manager Egis Klimas has now said that the Ukrainian will not fight Tyson Fury at Wembley Stadium on April 29th.
Klimas reportedly told boxing journalist Steve Kim, “No matter how much Usyk compromised, he was pushed for more.”
Kim says Usyk, who holds the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight belts, now hopes to return for a mandatory defence in the summer.
Both teams have been locked in negotiations for months for a potential fight that would crown the sport’s first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis over two decades ago.
The process has seen both fighters go back-and-forth on social media as negotiations reached a crux.
WBC champion Fury initially demanded a 70-30% split in his favour if the fight was to be held at Wembley Stadium.
Usyk duly obliged, only demanding in return that Fury donate £1 million to the people of war-torn Ukraine.
Fury then responded again at the beginning of last week asking for a rematch clause to be removed from the contract.
Usyk again returned with a video of his own, saying the clause was included at the behest of Fury in the first place.
Doubts began to grow over whether the fight would in fact take place until Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren posted a cryptic tweet on Sunday which suggested a deal had been reached after all.
The post read: “Arsenal 8 points clear! Even bigger news to come!”, with many taking it as a hint that an announcement was imminent.
Fury uploaded a further post, saying members of his team would now take control of his social medias as he began training for a potential showdown with the former undisputed cruiserweight.
Optimism was at an all-time high to see the two behemoths trade blows until Kim’s tweet which was posted at 12:27am Wednesday (GMT).
Klimas has now thrown another spanner in the works however, suggesting the fight is dead in the water and that Usyk is now looking elsewhere for other opponents.
Britain’s Joe Joyce is mandatory challenger for Usyk’s WBO belt and now looks most likely to face the Ukrainian next.