Comments Thread For: Usyk Promoter 'Really Optimistic' Fury Fight Gets Made, Adamant on 50/50 Split

[Oregonian]

Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports said today that he was given a copy of an 8 page bout agreement from the end of 2009 which would have ended with a March 13, 2010 superfight:

A contract sent on Dec. 11, 2009, by Golden Boy Promotions on behalf of Mayweather to Top Rank on behalf of Pacquiao proposed a 50-50 financial split between the sides for a fight that would have been held March 13, 2010.

The eight-page agreement is so detailed that it indicates which of the two fighters would step onto the scale first at the weigh-in (Pacquiao), who would walk to the ring first (Pacquiao), who would be introduced first (Mayweather) and who had first choice of the locker room (Mayweather).

It detailed that the bout would have been on HBO Pay-Per-View at a cost of $59.95. Billing was to be "Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, presented by Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions, Mayweather Promotions and M-P Promotions in association with [approved sponsors and the site]."

Pacquiao's side declined the 2009 contract offer because Pacquiao objected to Mayweather's request for the drug testing

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This I did not know about. Thank you for sharing this. I don’t want to digress but so it is actually true that PAC turned down the fight because he was PED user and didn’t want to get caught? I’m assuming that’s the reason,

More important, after a couple of losses, PAC ended not getting the 50/50 split.

[Griever0730]

For legacy yes. Not so much for money - Fury can make more money fighting Joyce or Joshua in the UK. Usyk can't make more money fighting anyone else.

I agree. With all the organizations involved, making an undisputed fight will always come down to what everybody's cut is gonna be. Hopefully they figure it out bc neither of those other two fights you mentioned for Fury are as appealing as unifying with Usyk at this point in time. Usyk being the B-side in this equation is stuck hoping Fury doesn't decide to go in another direction and having to deal with one of his mandatories for far less.

[Bronx23]

Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports said today that he was given a copy of an 8 page bout agreement from the end of 2009 which would have ended with a March 13, 2010 superfight:

A contract sent on Dec. 11, 2009, by Golden Boy Promotions on behalf of Mayweather to Top Rank on behalf of Pacquiao proposed a 50-50 financial split between the sides for a fight that would have been held March 13, 2010.

The eight-page agreement is so detailed that it indicates which of the two fighters would step onto the scale first at the weigh-in (Pacquiao), who would walk to the ring first (Pacquiao), who would be introduced first (Mayweather) and who had first choice of the locker room (Mayweather).

It detailed that the bout would have been on HBO Pay-Per-View at a cost of $59.95. Billing was to be "Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, presented by Top Rank, Golden Boy Promotions, Mayweather Promotions and M-P Promotions in association with [approved sponsors and the site]."

Pacquiao's side declined the 2009 contract offer because Pacquiao objected to Mayweather's request for the drug testing

Whole lot of context missing from that last line. I hate how people try to push the narrative that Pac just didn’t want any drug testing whatsoever. It made no sense since he was already being tested for his other fights.

It wasn’t that Pac just didn’t want drug testing. Manny was already enrolled in random VADA testing. Floyd was pushing for USADA to be used instead. Remember he wanted to “clean up the sport” & went heavy on the USADA campaign. Prior to that, both Floyd & Manny had used VADA testing. Pac & his team didn’t want to give Floyd to the ability to dictate WHEN Pac would be tested. (Quite frankly idk why they believed he would have that kind of control, but maybe that was part of Floyd’s demands, who knows)

Pac expressed concern that Floyd would have him tested too close to fight night in an attempt to weaken him. Freddie expanded on this saying that Pac had a blood draw close to fight night in the past & Pac said it made him feel weak. Thats where Bob Arums famous “Mannys afraid of needles” b.s. came from and people ran with it. Manny nor Freddie ever made that claim.

The whole thing was a pssing match with neither side willing to budge on whether it would be VADA or USADA. It was all ego and bs on BOTH sides that killed the fight. I remember Floyd saying he wouldn’t fight Pac unless he left TR. Then took it a step further & said they’d only fight if he signed with Mayweather promotions. All nonsense that never materialized in the end. I think eventually they ended up using USADA for the 2015 fight but I could be wrong.

Funny thing is after Floyd retired, I think USADA completely disappeared in boxing. Pretty sure VADA is the exclusive drug testing program in boxing today.

[Duran1333]

Usyk should have never gone on record stating he would fight for free if need be to get the fight made. If you don’t mean it, don’t say it when it comes to monetary negotiations.

[removed]

Fury won't give Usyk 50/50 in the UK.

The fight is dead, RIP boxing.

[Patsfan bri]

It should be 50/50 split. Wilder and fury agreed to that in the first fight and fury didn’t have a belt.

[Devils Advocate]

Fury is A-side and 60/40 or 55/45 is fair in my opinion. Usyk isn’t well known and barley even speaks so Fury has to carry the load in hyping the fight.

[Stephankotyk]

Usyk is known in UK and anyone who thinks opposite should give it another try

• he won gold medal in UK olympics
• he beat Joyce in UK
• he beat Tony in UK
• he beat most popular UK fighter twice in a row, one time at his backyard and second with millions watching online

Also Usyk has all the belts and Fury was saying it is easy job. 50/50 is fair split unless Fury wants to play it safe. It will be STILL more in absolute numbers than if he fights another noname or old retiring fighter

[Boro]

It should be 50/50 split. Wilder and fury agreed to that in the first fight and fury didn’t have a belt.

Difference is Usyk has been involved in multiple PPVs 600k buys against Bellew, 1M against Chisora and probably a 1.2m twice over against AJ...

Wilder hadn't been on PPV before he fought Fury but Fury had and they need Fury to have a single recognisable name on their resume hence their choosing of what they thought was a shot Fury...

[Combat Talk Radio]

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As much as I like Usyk, asking for a 50/50 split would be akin to Cotto asking for a 50/50 split with Floyd.
Even the immensely popular and global icon, Pacqiao couldn’t get a 50/50 split with Floyd.

It doesn’t matter if Usyk has all the four belts, Fury would be generous to give him 30%

I disagree. Usyk holds 3-4 belts, Usyk holds two clean wins over Joshua, Usyk was unified champion at cruiser. But he struggled against Chisora.



Fury can only lay claim to Clinchko, but that was almost 10 years ago. Other than that, it's just Wilder, and he struggled with him.

It's Even Steven from my eyes. 50-50 is fair here.