Tyson Fury has launched into a spectacular – and foul-mouthed – rant directed at fellow heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk after the proposed unification fight between the two was rumoured to have fallen through. Here's what the Gypsy King had to say about his fellow fighter:
Of course, as every boxing fan knows, the fight you want to happen is usually the one that doesn’t happen – very rarely do we see the fights that everyone craves get made.
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That’s because there’s so much to thrash out from a money perspective, as well as the insertion of various clauses such as immediate rematch clauses and – in some cases – mandatory challengers that must be navigated.
Oh, and there's a serious amount of bluster and hot air in the sport, too.
If it was always easy there’s a good chance that Tyson Fury would have fought Anthony Joshua in a big unification fight before Joshua lost his titles – then subsequently defended them – against Joshua in two fights.
But – as is so often the case with the sweet science – it didn’t go down like that.
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Now, it looks as if a similar unification bout between the British WBC world champion Fury and his Ukrainian counterpart Usyk, who holds the rest of the belts, won’t happen either.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren confirmed yesterday that he ‘does not think’ it will happen soon, suggesting that Usyk had looked ‘for a way to get out’.
Obviously, Usyk’s team will refute that claim, suggesting there is some failure on Fury’s end.
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We’ll probably never get the full truth, and it’s probably pretty boring in truth, but that’s not what the Gypsy King himself is about.
Never backward in coming forwards, the 34-year-old boxer released a lengthy rant – punctuated with a number of swearwords and insults – at his one-time prospective opponent.
Fury ranted: “Usyk you little s***house, you proper little s***bag.
“Bog-eyed, gappy-teethed, ugly little rat b***ard.
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“You little slimy f***er – tried all week to get a rematch like a little girl, you got your rematch and didn’t even want to fight at that.
“You little s***house p***y.
“Always know p***y that you was [sic] never man enough to tangle with the Gypsy King ever in your life, you little s***house.
“You little 14-stone coward.
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“You little s***bag, you rat little b***ard.
“And your full team know it as well, and all the lawyers have got the full information, you little ugly b***ard."
He continued: “Keep running, fight [British WBA (Regular) heavyweight champion Daniel] Dubois at the Copper Box now s***bag, and always know that you – or anybody else like you – could never tangle with the Gypsy King you s***house little coward.”
Dubois is the WBA’s mandatory challenger, meaning that if a deal with Fury isn’t thrashed out by April 1, that body – one of several - will demand that he fights him instead.
The sticking point seems to have been over rematch clauses, purse splits, and then rematch purse splits contingent on who won the first fight.
However, it is believed that Fury’s team weren’t keen to get tied down to a big rivalry, like his three fights with Deontay Wilder, as that would tie up a massive UK stadium fight against Joshua.
Anyway, all we need to know is that the real losers in this are – once again – the boxing public who might be denied that fight that everyone wants to see.
There’s still time for both sides to thrash out a solution and get the fight on, but it remains to be seen whether the breakdown can be rebuilt.
Topics: World News, Boxing, Sport, Tyson Fury, Ukraine, UK News
Tom Wood