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I'm going to start with some advice for anybody who wants to find out as much as they can about why negotiations for The Richest Prize In Sport, the undisputed heavyweight title fight between Usyk and Fury, broke down. There are interviews with Frank Warren and Alex Krassyuk online. If you want to know what both guys said about the negotiations, and about the rematch clause fall-out, don't just read articles telling you snippets of what was said - go and listen to those interviews for yourself.
I did that and this is what I found out:
Usyk and Fury both agreed to a 50/50 split last year. Fury asked for a rematch clause to be included in the contract and Usyk agreed. They would obviously have both agreed on the rematch split too, because both sides were saying that all terms had been agreed. But what the rematch split would have been if the first fight had gone ahead with a 50/50 split hasn't been revealed, so far as I know.
According the Saudi head of boxing, Fury priced himself out of the fight in S A by demanding more money for himself than the whole event would have generated for both guys. The proposed location was switched to the UK and Fury demanded a 70/30 split, in his favour, which Usyk agreed to.
It seems reasonable to me that, because the split for the 1st fight had been changed, the rematch split would need changing too, because they were both part of the same original deal. Usyk proposed that the rematch split should be 70/30 in favour of the winner, which seems like a very fair proposition to me. But Fury refused that and demanded 50% for himself, even if he lost the first fight. Usyk wouldn't accept that and Fury went on social media saying, "let's get rid of the rematch clause altogether"
Usyk then walked away from the negotiations. His promoter said the reason he walked was because Fury was being unreasonable and they didn't believe he had any intention of fighting on the agreed date.
Fury's trainer, Sugar Hill Steward, revealed that he hadn't been been told anything about Fury fighting on April 29th, which suggests to me that Usyk and Krassyuk were right, Fury had no intention of fighting on that date and they were wasting their time and money training and negotiating for it themselves.
I did that and this is what I found out:
Usyk and Fury both agreed to a 50/50 split last year. Fury asked for a rematch clause to be included in the contract and Usyk agreed. They would obviously have both agreed on the rematch split too, because both sides were saying that all terms had been agreed. But what the rematch split would have been if the first fight had gone ahead with a 50/50 split hasn't been revealed, so far as I know.
According the Saudi head of boxing, Fury priced himself out of the fight in S A by demanding more money for himself than the whole event would have generated for both guys. The proposed location was switched to the UK and Fury demanded a 70/30 split, in his favour, which Usyk agreed to.
It seems reasonable to me that, because the split for the 1st fight had been changed, the rematch split would need changing too, because they were both part of the same original deal. Usyk proposed that the rematch split should be 70/30 in favour of the winner, which seems like a very fair proposition to me. But Fury refused that and demanded 50% for himself, even if he lost the first fight. Usyk wouldn't accept that and Fury went on social media saying, "let's get rid of the rematch clause altogether"
Usyk then walked away from the negotiations. His promoter said the reason he walked was because Fury was being unreasonable and they didn't believe he had any intention of fighting on the agreed date.
Fury's trainer, Sugar Hill Steward, revealed that he hadn't been been told anything about Fury fighting on April 29th, which suggests to me that Usyk and Krassyuk were right, Fury had no intention of fighting on that date and they were wasting their time and money training and negotiating for it themselves.
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