Sean Crose
No doubt fans are still burning over the fact the undisputed heavyweight championship fight between WBC and lineal champ Tyson Fury and WBA, IBF, and WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk fell through before either man signed on the dotted line. What was supposed to be a smooth negotiation process turned into a nightmare which, coupled with the hoped for undisputed welterweight championship fight between Errol Spence and Terence Crawford falling through, led the sport of boxing to once again live down to its already less than stellar reputation. With that being said, it appears negotiations between the Fury and Usyk camps are heating up again.
“Yes,” Ringside Reporter quotes Fury promoter Bob Arum as saying (via The Guardian) when asked if both parties were returning to the negotiating table. “That is correct. I have talked to a representative of Skills Challenge, that puts on these boxing events in Saudi Arabia. We know those people, we worked for them in connection with the Jake Paul and Tommy Fury fight as far as the US television is concerned, so we know who the players are and we’ve had some very interesting talks with them.”
Many will undoubtedly roll their eyes at this latest development. Simply put – too many major fights have gone down past their sell by date or have not gone down at all for the boxing public to become excited about something as a simple return to the negotiation table. The fact that Gervonta Davis and Ryan Garcia were able to cut through the red tape that strangles the contemporary fight game to actually make a superfight a reality last month only makes parties who can’t negotiate a similar deal look worse. Fury and Usyk have stated they want the fight so perhaps things will work themselves out this time around.
All else being even, a Fury-Usyk matchup is intriguing. Fury is a giant of a man, one who can hit and move as good as anyone in the division. Usyk might be considerably smaller than Fury but it’s said he’s the same height George Foreman was in the ring. He’s also a master boxer who knows how to hit himself. Fury would likely be the favorite walking in, should the fight be made, but it’s hard to imagine him being much of one. In other words, it’s not too difficult to see a Fury-Usyk match going either way. On top of everything else it would be nice for the heavyweight division to actually have an undisputed world champion once again.