Tyson Fury will have to find his pen in a hurry, as the WBA has given him and IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk until April 1st to sign the bout contracts to avoid the mandatory Daniel Dubois being ordered.
If Fury doesn’t agree to the fight by April 1st, Usyk will be ordered to defend against #1 WBA Dubois (19-1, 18 KOs).
WBC champion Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) is dragging his feet, not signing the contract for his April 29th undisputed championship fight against the unbeaten Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs), who is tired of waiting & jumping over the seemingly endless hurdles to get this match agreed on.
Promoter Eddie Hearn believes Fury isn’t “physically ready” to face Usyk in only six weeks on April 29th, so he’s stalling it out until Oleksandr throws his hands in the air and gives up on the fight.
You can question whether Fury lost interest in fighting Usyk when the Saudis failed to agree to his reportedly enormous asking price to fight over there. With the Saudi money off the table, Fury will make far less in the high-risk fight against Usyk in London at Wembley Stadium on April 29th.
Usyk v. Fury update: @WBABoxing deadline to receive signed bout contracts is April 1st. Otherwise the Dobouis mandatory negotiations will be ordered.
— Gilberto J Mendoza (@GilberticoWBA) March 19, 2023
The points for agreement were sent to Fury’s side. The deadline is set. The clock is ticking. The ball is on #Greedybelly’s side now. We did everything in our power to make it happen @Tyson_Fury
— Oleksandr Usyk (@usykaa) March 18, 2023
Fury with a lot to lose
Above all, Fury is a businessman, and it’s got to be hard for him to concentrate on a fight against Usyk for relative chump change when he’s distracted about the $100 million+ he could make fighting Joshua in Saudi Arabia in the summer.
With the thoughts of money that Fury can make fighting Joshua clouding his mind, it’s no surprise that he’s not signing the contract to fight Usyk.
Fury likely can’t concentrate because he will out on so much revenue if he gets beaten by Usyk, which is very possible due to how fat he’s gotten.
What happens if Fury gets beaten by Usyk? You guessed it. That money that he would make fighting Joshua would disappear forever.
Even if the fight still went ahead later, it’s unlikely Fury would make anywhere close to the same kind of dough that he would if he were to face Joshua now with his unbeaten record still intact.
Given that Fury is physically in poor condition, even for a non-athlete, it’s a lot to ask for him to whip himself into shape in just six weeks to face a talented fighter like Usyk, who is much faster on his feet and would take advantage all the weight that he’s storing around his midsection.