IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk says that if the fight with Tyson Fury doesn’t happen next, which it doesn’t look like it is, he’ll be facing his WBA mandatory Daniel Dubois next to avoid losing that title.
Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs) is one of three mandatory defenses that are due for Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), which will keep him busy for quite a while before he’s free to attempt to negotiate with whoever the WBC belt holder is, be it Fury or someone else if he gets beaten or vacates or stripped.
Krassyuk revealed today that the negotiations with Fury have gone badly, with the Gypsy King asking for money that didn’t exist for the location of the fight.
According to Krassyuk, Fury was asking for the type of money to where even if Usyk took zero purse, it still wouldn’t satisfy his asking price.
Krassyuk deduced that with the price that Fury is asking and the fact that he’s not even begun training for the April 29th fight, it means that he was never serious about fighting Usyk in the first place. It was just a charade, in other words.
Just who Fury does want to fight is anyone’s guess. Perhaps he’d to hope to face former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in what would be a big payday for him, or perhaps he’s hoping the Anthony Joshua fight will come available to him after his April 1st match-up against Jermaine Franklin.
Dubois is coming off a third round knockout win over former cruiserweight Kevin Lerena last December. That was a questionable victory, as Dubois was knocked down three times in the first round, and some boxing fans believe the round ended early, resulting in him being able to survive being poleaxed a final time by the hard-hitting southpaw Lerena.
“He’s stuck in a very narrow corridor as the unified champion, so he has the list of mandatory’s to comply with,” said Alex Krassyuk to ID Boxing when asked about the options for Oleksandr Usyk if the fight with Tyson Fury fails to come off for April 29th.
“If you want to retain your titles and still be a champion, you have to defend against your mandatory. So if the Fury fight doesn’t happen, which isn’t really likely to happen, I think Usyk will have to fight his mandatory.
“We can put any day, but it won’t change anything. This isn’t about the date,” said Krassyuk when asked if things will improve in the Tyson Fury – Usyk negotiations if they move off the April 29th date.
“It’s not about the money. It’s about being brave enough to take the challenge. I wouldn’t say he’s a big pay-per-view seller. If you look at his last few fights, you don’t see big numbers there.
“This fight can generate three times more than Tyson’s past fights. That’s not because of Tyson. It’s because of Usyk. He’s contributing his achievements to this fight and that’s why it’s so big.
