WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and WBA, WBO, and IBF heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk have made positive forward progress as the two are moving forward with talks, as we are tentatively optimistic that we can get this fight, especially after Tyson Fury’s co-promoter, Frank Warren, stated to talkSPORT that the fight “is on.” This fight has been made about as quickly as a soap opera moves week-to-week, but if it gets made, all of that will be a thing of the past - as this is a fight that needs to happen for the sport, the fans and the legacy of the modern heavyweight division.
If this fight does happen it would be the first undisputed heavyweight title fight since November 13, 1999, when Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield. As we have nearly gone a full lifetime since we have seen an undisputed champion in the glory division of boxing, that being the heavyweight division.
The only thing that seems to be a point of contention is that Fury seems uninterested in a rematch clause. A few hours after the initial story broke on talkSPORT, Fury took to his huge social media platform which has more followers than most media outlets to let the world know how he felt about a rematch clause.
“I’ve been speaking to the lawyers today, and Usyk’s people have been talking about a rematch clause…” said Tyson Fury on his social media account this morning. “Here is one to up the antes, how about there is no [expletive] rematch clause for both of us? Let’s up the [ante] completely. [Let’s not] talk about what’s in the future or how many more dollars you can get after you have been defeated.”
Last week, Oleksandr Usyk called Tyson Fury’s bluff as he willingly said yes to a lot less money via a social media post. The only catch was that Usyk wants Fury to donate a hefty sum to Ukraine, Usyk’s native land that is currently at war with Russia for over a year now. Usyk’s team is fearful that the no rematch clause is just yet another roadblock and once they say yes they are not as optimistic it will be clear sailing from there.
“As Usyk said, the greedy belly is still hoping to find a way to pull out. We knew before and know it now,” said Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, when speaking with talkSPORT. “As soon as Usyk accepts a no rematch clause there will still be searching for another thing to find and pull out the fight.”