Former cruiserweight champion and Sky Sports pundit Johnny Nelson does not believe that WBC heavyweight king Tyson Fury is struggling to secure an opponent.
At the start of the year, Fury had tried to make a fight with WBO, IBF, WBA, IBO world champion Oleksandr Usyk. The two sides were unable to reach an agreement on the financial terms for the rematch.
Usyk surprisingly agreed to Fury's demand for a 70-30 split for their initial encounter.
However, Usyk - if he won the first bout - wanted a 70-30 split in his favor for the rematch. Fury rejected that scenario and was only willing to offer up an even 50-50 split for a second fight.
Nelson feels Fury's financial demands could very well be an indication of just how dangerous he views the fight with Usyk.
“It sounds like Tyson Fury doesn’t believe he beats Usyk. So all the demands, all the negotiating, all the hustling might be to squeeze out as much as he possibly can financially. I won’t be one of these fools who blow smoke up his ass. I see through it," Nelson told Seconds Out.
Fury has been out of the ring since last December, when he battered and stopped Derek Chisora in their trilogy fight.
Besides the discussions to secure Usyk, Fury was unable to Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz and Zhilei Zhang.
There are several other contenders, like Martin Bakole, Agit Kabayel, Frank Sanchez, Efe Ajagba, Filip Hrgovic and Luis Ortiz - who would jump at the opportunity to fight Fury.
Nelson has no issue with Fury getting the bulk of the money for his next defense, but he disagrees with Fury's position that nobody wants to face him.
"You can fight, and you deserve the lion’s share, but I’m not buying that bullsh!t [that no one wants to fight you]," Nelson said.
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