Tyson Fury rejects 60/40 offer from Oleksandr Usyk

Blockasset athlete Oleksandr Usyk offered Tyson Fury ’60/40 to the winner’ purse split deal but Fury turned it down, claims Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk who says he’s not sure Fury is ‘ready’ to fight.

According to Alex Krassyuk, Oleksandr Usyk's promoter, Tyson Fury declined their latest proposal of a "60/40 to the winner" agreement, as the two heavyweight champions negotiate for an undisputed world title fight. The fight is expected to take place on April 29 at Wembley Stadium and will feature the WBA, WBC, IBF, and WBO titles.

Nonetheless, there is a limited time to finalize an agreement, which has been made more challenging by the failure of the initial proposal to host the fight in Saudi Arabia for a substantial site fee. On Monday, Frank Warren, Tyson Fury's co-promoter in the UK, indicated to talkSPORT that negotiations could conclude soon. 

The following day, Krassyuk appeared on talkSPORT with White and Jordan to present his perspective.

“Frank Warren said he’s got a pot and he needs to get the agreement of both parties to participate, and if the money in the pot is not enough it won’t happen,” Krassyuk began.

“I completely agree with it. On our side, we have nothing more to add.

“We are not asking for a figure, we are asking for a split and probably the split doesn’t work well if someone is asking for a figure, and I can definitely say that it’s not our party.”

“We have said that we want this fight to happen as much as possible and we are in the position to share whatever the fight generates.

“If it generates a lot, then we are happy to share it. If it doesn’t, it is what it is.

“But it’s all about the glory, it’s all about the legacy, it’s all about the huge thing, the fight has never happened before so we are really thirsty to make it happen.

“But boxing is a sport of two men and if only Usyk gets into the ring, there won’t be a match for undisputed. It will be shadowboxing of the unified champion.

“What can I say? We are open, we are ready to go, maybe someone wants to avoid the danger and to stay in a comfortable position. I don’t know and I really don’t care.

“If Tyson doesn’t show up, we still have the belts and we go our way.”

Krassyuk went to explain the latest in negotiations for the purse split.

“We initially agreed for 50/50,” he continued, “But then Tyson was asking for some bigger money.

“So we made it clear that we are ready to go 60/40, but the winner takes 60.

“That was our latest offer.”

Asked if Fury turned that down, Krassyuk replied: “Yes, exactly.”

The Ukrainian is now seemingly doubtful of Furys intentions, but insists he remains optimistic.

“I am experienced and I’ve been here for a while,” Krassyuk said as he began to conclude the interview.

“Normally when a fighter does not want to take a fight, he asks for something impossible so it doesn’t take place.

“On the other side, I’m really optimistic.

“Maybe Tyson is not ready yet. Maybe he’s is not ready mentally, maybe he’s not ready physically, whatever, I don’t know and we don’t really care.

“We want to make it happen. If he doesn’t want it, we can’t make him want it.

“So what can I say? The fight should happen someday.”