Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk: Ukrainian was set to lose $40M due to venue change
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury would've resulted in a massive financial hit for the Ukrainian.
'The Cat' and 'The Gypsy King' were in talks to fight on April 29th in the U.K. However, that was just the end result of months of going back and forth. The pair were in talks as far back as last August, following Usyk's win over Anthony Joshua.
The original target was for the matchup to take place in Saudi Arabia in the spring, with a 50/50 revenue split. Given that both men were champions, and the fight would be a historic heavyweight unification bout, that made sense.
By the time talks were called off a few weeks ago, that had turned into a 70/30 revenue split for Tyson Fury, with the fight taking place in his home country. Since the fight's cancelation, there's been a lot of finger-pointing as to why the matchup isn't happening.
It seems that Bob Arum has offered another reason why the bout might've fallen apart. During a recent interview with Steve Kim, the head of Top Rank revealed that Oleksandr Usyk was going to take a massive pay cut when the fight was moved from Saudi Arabia.
As a result, the heavyweight champion would've gone from a $60 million dollar payday to a $20 million dollar purse.
Bob Arum has stated that Oleksandr Usyk was set to make in the region of $20million for the Tyson Fury fight if it happened on April 29th at Wembley Stadium, whereas the deal he'd previously agreed with the Saudis would have seen him make $60million. [@SteveKim323]
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury: Who will 'The Cat' fight now?
Due to Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury falling apart, 'The Cat' is now on the search for a new opponent.
Granted, it doesn't appear that the heavyweight champion will have to wait long. During his talks with 'The Gypsy King', Usyk was ordered to face WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois.
The matchup was halted as the sanctioning body thought the heavyweight unification fight was more important at the time. However, with Usyk's fight with Fury now being off, that opens the door for Dubois once again.
But that doesn't mean he'll get the fight. Over the last few weeks, there's been chatter about Deontay Wilder potentially facing Oleksandr Usyk next. 'The Bronze Bomber' has also been in contact with Francis Ngannou over a two-fight deal.
That being said, it seems that the hard-hitter could be facing the champion next. Wilder was recently named the WBA number one contender at heavyweight, which is normally a sign that they will fight for gold next.
While the fight is far from official, it seems that Oleksandr Usyk has many options for his return.
Deontay Wilder has now leapfrogged Martin Bakole and moved up to #1 in the new WBA heavyweight rankings, despite neither of them fighting in the past month. As it stands, Daniel Dubois remains WBA mandatory challenger for Oleksandr Usyk, but it appears Wilder is now next in line.