Oleksandr Usyk believes Tyson Fury wants no part of him.
The WBA, WBO, and IBF unified heavyweight champion from Ukraine called out Fury, the WBC titlist, to a full unification fight last month immediately after defeating Anthony Joshua in their 12-round heavyweight title rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Fury responded by saying he would oblige Usyk, but the two quickly arrived at an impasse: Fury wanted a fight by the end of the year, while Usyk, having just come off a tough fight, did not want to fight again until next year.
Thereafter, Fury called out Joshua to an all-British super fight in December, and the two have been engaged in talks for the past couple of weeks, although recent news suggest the fight is unlikely to happen.
Usyk, in a recent interview, expressed his contempt for Fury, suggesting that the Manchester heavyweight is “afraid” to fight him.
“The thing is that everyone is expecting Usyk-Fury fight for the undisputed championship, which hasn’t occurred in the heavyweight division,” Usyk said in a subtitled video posted on his YouTube channel Uysk17. “Despite his toughness and how he is generally described, he (Fury) is afraid.”
Asked if Usyk would watch a potential Fury-Joshua fight, he cracked, “No, I will support neither of them. I won’t even watch this fight,” before making it clear he was just joking.
“No, it’s just that I want to outbox Fury for now,” Usyk said. “The championship unification is far better and more important than just a fight or a title defense.”
Usyk, a former undisputed cruiserweight champion, said a routine title defense holds little appeal to him, hence his desire to fight Fury as soon as possible.
“Well, you know, I don’t want to work and box that much just for the defense itself,” Usyk said. “There’s much more than that and I can achieve it.”
Usyk said he envisions himself fighting at most three times before hanging up the gloves. That includes fights with Fury, a catchweight fight with 168-pound undisputed champion Canelo Alvarez, and a final fight in his homeland at the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex in Kiev. Alvarez has expressed interest in fighting Usyk.
“After my last bout (with Joshua) I can fight in my top form three times more at best," Usyk said.
“With Fury, Canelo, and the farewell fight at Olympiyski. Yes, with Canelo. He wanted to fight with me. But it will be a ‘freak fight’, just for the sake of earning money.”
