Either an undisputed heavyweight championship is on the horizon or both parties are conning at least one sanctioning body.

WBA president Gilberto Jesus Mendoza informed BoxingScene.com that his office was informed of a tentative deal reached for the Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk championship clash. The sanctioning body received written confirmation of the two sides having agreed to terms, which was provided just prior to the WBA-imposed deadline before Usyk would have been summoned to next face Daniel Dubois in a title consolidation clash.

"Both sides agree on terms,” Mendoza informed BoxingScene.com. “Usyk accepted the 70/30 [split]. They ask [for] time to work on contracts."

Should the bout get finalized, it will take place April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London. The championship clash will likely air on ESPN Pay-Per-View, as was the case for Fury’s lineal/WBC championship defense versus Dillian Whyte in their all-British clash last April 23 at the very same venue.

The tentative agreement came hours after both sides took to social media in the latest round of what became a very public negotiation.

Manchester’s Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs) scoffed at the offer presented by Alex Krassyuk, Usyk’s career-long promoter, calling for a 60-40 split in favor of the winner, as told to iD Boxing co-founder and managing director Rob Tebbutt. In his own video message, Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs) instead issued a take-it-or-leave-it offer of 70-30 in favor of the unbeaten lineal/WBC champ.

“They want 50 percent, Usyk and all this ‘Tyson is being greedy.’ From where I’m standing, Usyk—you and your team are worth 30 percent,” Fury stated Friday morning. “You either take it or you leave it. And if you don’t want it, go fight [WBA ‘Regular’ heavyweight titlist] Daniel Dubois for a couple bucks and get a few million dollars. If you want to make some real money, come on fight the Gypsy King.”

“I will say, for every day from today that you linger, mess around—I’m going to deduct one percent from the 30 percent,” Fury insisted to Usyk. “I’m going to deduct one percent until you take it. And if you don’t take it, fight Dubois for two million dollars. Not a problem. But how in the world could [Usyk’s team] have offered me a deal? Not possible. Tick tock, tick tock, pussies.”

The message was received loud and clear.

Ukraine’s Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) later responded with a message of his own. The two-division champ and reigning WBA/IBF/WBO heavyweight titleholder conditionally agreed to terms provided Fury respond to one of his own demands.

“Hey, greedy belly. I accept your offer. 70-30 split to fight you on April 29th at Wembley,” insisted Usyk before getting to his own terms. “But you will promise to donate to Ukraine immediately after the fight a million pounds. Every day of your delay, you will pay one percent (more) from your purse to Ukrainian people. Deal?”

The back-and-forth came as the WBA was prepared to move forward with previous plans for a title consolidation clash. Fury holds the WBA ‘Super’ heavyweight title in addition to the IBF and WBO belts. Dubois (18-1, 17KOs) has held the WBA ‘Regular’ title since a sixth-round knockout of Trevor Bryan last June 11 in Miami, Florida.

Dubois is one of three mandatory challengers for Usyk. The London-based secondary titleholder is promoted by Frank Warren’s Queensberry Promotions, as are Fury and interim WBO heavyweight titlist Joe Joyce (15-0, 14KOs).

Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic (15-0, 12KOs) is the IBF mandatory challenger. The 2016 Olympic Bronze medalist earned the position following an off-the-canvas, split decision win over Zhang Zhilei on the undercard of Usyk’s repeat win over England’s Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22KOs) last August 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Usyk won the unified titles in a September 2021 unanimous decision over Joshua at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London.

Fury is in the voluntary phase of his title reign. His sixth-round knockout win over Whyte last April satisfied his WBC mandatory, having since added a tenth-round stoppage of countryman Derek Chisora last December 3 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. He is permitted another voluntary defense since the WBC has yet to establish his next mandatory challenger due to Deontay Wilder and Andy Ruiz failing to come to terms for their ordered title eliminator.

Should Fury-Usyk actually take place, it will mark the first undisputed heavyweight championship fight in more than 23 years. The last such occasion was Lennox Lewis’ win over Evander Holyfield in their November 1999 rematch in Las Vegas.

Fury is one of just two boxers in history to have won every major heavyweight title. Riddick Bowe is the only other heavyweight to do so. He claimed the WBC, WBA and IBF titles in a November 1992 win over Holyfield and later won the WBO belt in a June 1995 knockout win over Herbie Hide roughly 19 months after losing the lineal and unified WBA/IBF championship to Holyfield in their November 1993 rematch.

Fury previously dethroned lineal, WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in November 2015. His reign was quickly splintered, as he was stripped of the IBF title for failure to immediately face mandatory challenger Vyacheslav Glazkov since he was contractually bound to a rematch with Klitschko.

Their second fight never took place, as it was twice postponed—once due to a Fury injury and the second occasion killing the fight altogether when Fury tested positive for cocaine. The development came as he was already under investigation with the British Boxing Board of Control for a dirty drug test surrounding his February 2015 win over Christian Hammer.

Fury received a backdated two-year suspension, which was lost in his 31-month ring hiatus before he returned in June 2018. The hulking Brit is 8-0-1 (6KOs) in his comeback, including a trilogy with Wilder. The two fought to a disputed, split decision draw in December 2018. Fury emphatically ended Wilder’s WBC title reign with a seventh-round stoppage in their February 2020 rematch. He repeated the feat, though he had to climb off the deck to knock out Wilder in the eleventh round of their epic October 2021 trilogy bout in Las Vegas.

The aforementioned win over Chisora completed Fury’s second heavyweight trilogy, having defeated the British journeyman in all three bouts. The feat also marked his third successful title defense.

Usyk previously held the undisputed cruiserweight championship prior to moving up in weight. He is 4-0 since his heavyweight arrival in 2019, and also boasts a perfect 9-0 record in title fights spanning two weight divisions.

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox