By: Sean Crose
“Our impression is that he doesn’t want to fight.”
That’s what Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, says about Tyson Fury in an interview with iFL TV. “He’s avoiding the fight because he didn’t go into training.” Krassyuk is speaking of course in regard to the much hoped for undisputed title fight between Fury and Usky, which is said to be going down next month in London. No contract has been signed, however. What’s more, Fury has brought up several points of contention regarding the contract over the past several days.
Krassyuk clearly suspects it’s a ruse on Fury’s part, that the lineal and WBC heavyweight champion of the world doesn’t truly wish to face IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight titlist Usyk in the ring this spring.
“He was out of the training camp until yesterday,” Krassyuk says in the video, “and it’s just five weeks left. He claims its still enough for him but how could a champion prepare for the undisputed heavyweight match in just five weeks and only because his bluff was called? It doesn’t sound realistic. That’s why he has no trainer, he has no sparring partners, he has none of all the infrastructure of the training camp, which is a really complicated thing to execute. That’s why to us it doesn’t look realistic at the moment.”
Team Usyk has now repeatedly indicated that Fury’s most recent assertion, that there should be no rematch clause in the contract, is nonsense, since they argue Fury was the one to originally ask for a rematch clause to begin with.
“At this point, we have Tyson Fury shouting in Instagram that 70-30, take it or leave it,” says Krassyuk. “This was the first time ever we heard from him regarding his demands. Usky calls the bluff. He accepts it and he asks him (Fury) to give him a promise that he will donate one million pounds for his country, for our country, for Ukraine, for people in need. So Tyson goes out and accepts.” Now, though, there appears to be the rematch clause issue to deal with. “What’s he going to say next?” Krassyuk asks rhetorically. “No gloves? No trunks? No ring whatever?”
Krassyuk makes sure to add that he admires Fury, if not the way the man does business. “I want to make it clear for everyone that we are not offending Tyson personally,” he says. “I respect him very much as the champion for his achievements…the thing we don’t like is the way he conducts business, is the way he treats the unified champion”” (he adds that “If it’s a part of the mind game, then it’s okay.”).
And will Usyk agree to Fury’s latest demand?
“It’s up to the fighter to make the decision,” Krassyuk says of his fighter.
