Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk Bout Not Happening; Rematch Money Split Cited Main Reason

Boxing fans have long been clamoring for a big-money bout between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and WBA, IBF and WBO titleholder Oleksandr Usyk, but the likelihood of that happening may have moved towards the impossible.

Sources reported that Usyk's side has pulled out of negotiations due to a complicated shift in contract talks and the Ukrainian's promoter Alex Krassyuk did a tell-all interview with talkSPORT recently.

"The reason for that is it went too far. There was a feeling that after [Oleksandr] Usyk accepted 70-30 [split], Tyson Fury started to think that he could put a saddle around his neck and start riding Usyk as much as he can. It's not right," Krassyuk was quoted to have said in the interview.

"I mean, Usyk accepted the 70-30 split as a courtesy. He was so loyal and he was so willing to make this fight happen. But the fight isn't about Tyson Fury, the fight is about the WBC belt that is pending in his collection."

It certainly is a disappointing turn of events for boxing fans as many were expecting Fury and Usyk to get into the ring in the near future to finally determine who deserves to be called the undisputed king of the heavyweights.

Krassyuk later put the ball in Fury and his camp's court about who was truly at fault for the big fight being in the state that it is in.

"If I start telling you the list of things he (Fury) wanted... 15 minutes will not be enough. There was a list of things he wanted to get in his favor that was absolutely unacceptable, which were completely disrespectful to the unified champion and former undisputed [cruiserweight] champion," he mentioned.

The winner of the bout between Fury and Usyk would have made history as the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era and the first to do so since British icon Lennox Lewis did it in 1999 back when there were only three belts.

In another interview with talkSPORT, Fury's United Kingdom co-promoter Frank Warren revealed that there was only one wrinkle that needed to be addressed at the point of Usyk's camp pulling out–it being the rematch clause.

"We got it all out the way except for one issue and that was the rematch. Tyson [Fury] publicly stated that we should scrap the rematch, this was to simplify the deal... I convinced Tyson to take the rematch [with Usyk] and he did. So I told them on Sunday we're gonna go with the rematch," Warren said as quoted.

"Then we got into a situation with how the rematch money is gonna be split and that's what we've been working on."

With fans looking on from the sidelines, it remains to be seen whether the two sides will actually come together at the negotiating table to hammer out their differences and get a deal done to finally end all talks.