Matchroom CEO Frank Smith weighed in on the latest discussions between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk ahead of their proposed undisputed heavyweight title fight.
All hope in Fury-Usyk seemed lost as the Briton revealed that he would only fight Usyk if his split was 70-30.
Notably, the claims were accepted by the three-belt champion, raising his dream of becoming only the second boxer – after Evander Holyfield – to become the undisputed champion in both cruiser and heavyweight.
Although many in the boxing community, such as Tony Bellew, feel that Usyk is underpaid for agreeing to this figure, his fighting spirit has earned him popularity. graves around the world, even in the UK.
One man who echoed that point was Smith, who in an interview with iD Boxingshowed his respect to the WBA, WBO & IBF champion, calling him a ‘hero’.
“Usyk is a hero. It just goes to show, all that goes to him is the legacy in the sport, he’s a star.
They still have to make it. You can scream percentages etc, but they still have to and I wonder if those numbers still pile up for Tyson to do it in the UK.”
Unfortunately, other roadblocks continued to prevent official announcement of the war, although the split was agreed.
Usyk’s manager, Egis Klimas recently spoke out about lengthy negotiations, saying ‘enough is enough’ and offering an apology to fansimplied that he and Usyk’s team did everything they could to keep the fight going.
