Eddie Hearn doubles down on claim Tyson Fury rejected Oleksandr Usyk fight

02/04/2022

Eddie Hearn has reiterated that Tyson Fury is to blame for not getting his world heavyweight unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk.

The Ukrainian stunned Anthony Joshua in London last September, outclassing him over 12 rounds to take a unanimous decision and claim his WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO belts.

The British fighter responded by immediately triggering a rematch clause, and then travelled to America to trial new coaches in preparation after announcing his intention to part with long-time mentor Rob McCracken.

In the meantime, WBC champion Tyson Fury was negotiating a title defence with Dillian Whyte, with the winners of the two proposed bouts tipped to meet in a huge unification clash with all world belts on the line.

However, in a dramatic 11th hour twist, Joshua was offered a deal from Fury's camp to step aside, but reportedly demanded £15 million for doing so as opposed to the £10 on offer.

'The Gypsy King' then turned his attentions back to Whyte, but only after accusing Joshua of 'greed' and scuppering his plans.

However Hearn, who promoted both Whyte and Joshua, has strongly refuted the claims, and in an interview with IFL TV lay the blame firmly at the door of the Manchester man.

"All of this you [Joshua] went back and asked for more money? No. The deal was never agreed, and by the way the deal changed," he ranted.

"The deal that was presented [publicly] was actually very different to the reality because Tyson Fury wouldn’t fight Oleksandr Usyk."

Hearn added that despite his pretences, Fury wanted a warm-up fight before taking on the Ukrainian.

"He wouldn’t fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed world championship in his next fight in June. Why? You know why? Because Tyson Fury is a smart man with a smart boxing brain and he knows how good Usyk is.

"Bare that in mind with Anthony Joshua jumping in with Usyk last September in London instead of vacating the belt, and fighting him again straight off the back this time around. Is he gonna get any credit for taking those fights?"

Hearn later doubled down on the claim that there were no complications on his or Joshua's side.

"The deal was always very simple. Fury fights Usyk, winner fights Joshua."

Hearn also said Joshua was adamant that regardless of the terms, he did not want to step aside for Fury.

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