Frank Warren says Tyson Fury could retire

By Will Arons - 03/23/2023 - Comments

Promoter Frank Warren isn’t sure what Tyson Fury’s next move is after his negotiations with unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk failed to produce a fight for April 29th.

If Fury retires, Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz would likely fight over it, and the winner would immediately make a fight happen with Anthony Joshua.

Fury’s future is uncertain now because he’s become difficult to negotiate with, and if all he can do is make fights against lesser guys like Derek Chisora & Dillin Whyte, he’s going to be left behind.

Warren says that the sticking point was the rematch, as Team Usyk wanted a second fight because that’s where they’d make their money.

Fury and Warren wanted to move on after one fight against IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion Usyk, which makes sense because they’re getting a 70-30 split, and he wanted that reserved in the rematch.

“Everything’s too raw at the moment. Listen, he may retire. I don’t know what he wants to do. He’ll do whatever he wants to do,” said Frank Warren to Secondsout about Tyson Fury following his failed negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk

If Fury does retire, the boxing world would be happy because he’s become a stick in the mud, unable to put together the important fights that fans want to see.

“Usyk,  I know they’re looking for two fights because that’s where they earn their money from,” said Warren. “It’s not about the belts. It’s about two fights.  When he [Usyk] fought Joshua, it was just over 80-20 in the first fight, and in the second fight, it was 50-50,” said Warren about the split that Usyk had as a beltless challenger against then IBF/WBA/WBO champion Anthony Joshua.

“Yeah, I think it is,”  said Warren when asked if Joshua is the right yardstick to be comparing the splits for the rematch for Fury vs. Usyk. “He’ll earn more money as a loser against Tyson then he would defending those titles.

“He needs Tyson to make money unless you’ve got Saudi coming to pay a premium because they want to put a fight on with him,  which is where I think they’re [Team Usyk] going. I think they pulled out because they’re thinking they can do a fight over there [Saudi Arabia].

“They think they can do a fight with Deontay Wilder, but they can’t because my man [Daniel Dubois] and the WBA said that if we haven’t got this deal done by the 1st of April, then it’s the mandatory time.

“The WBC said they’re not going to stand for a rematch. Everyone is going to have to fulfill their obligations because it’s taken so long.

“I genuinely thought he said what he wanted. He don’t care about money. He just wants to fight for the four belts. But he pulled out of the fight. You can dress it up, slag off me, slag off Tyson Fury. They pulled out,” said Warren.

“I genuinely thought he said what he wanted – he don’t care about money, he just wants to fight for the four belts. But he pulled out of the fight. You can dress it up, slag off me, slag off Tyson Fury. They. Pulled. Out.”

“The Saudis can’t put this fight on until December, and there’s no way we can wait until December for this to happen. Usyk made a very big point. He said,  ‘I don’t care who I fight. I just want the WBC belt.’ So if you want the WBC belt, fight on the 29th [of April],’ said Warren.

“You agreed to terms. We never pressed you. You called it out. More importantly, forget this rematch stuff. The four belts are on the line, and the winner gets it, and the loser, that’s the end of it.

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