Confirmation by Frank Warren Usyk ducked Tyson Fury, reveals emails, talks numbers

He is number one for sure. Of course he deserves to be paid well but like any other sport / business your value and pay is dependent on what the commercial value you hold is and how much revenue you generate. In my opinion he doesn’t deserve 70% of Usyk split as the reason the fight is so big is down to the fact all four belts are there and Usyk has 3 of them. He’s also performed well in UK PPV. Fury is a businessman though. The risk reward needs to work for him and if he can get £10mil for fighting Chisoras he will do that. Hell i would do the same

 

I don't think he well above the rest until he beats Usyk. Personally, I find the 'charisma and humour' gets a bit wearing after a while. The constant bull****, and I don't really need to hear the 101 dossiers and ****houses rant. A year or so ago I have regarded myself as a Fury fan. While I still think he an excellent fighter I would support Joyce or Usyk against him - not saying they would beat him but I would want him to.

A issue in terms of money seems to be that the biggest paydays at heavyweight are in the Middle East (particularly Saudi). These fight are effectively subsidised by government as a sports washing exercises. Usyk and Joshua will both have beaten Tyson highest ever purse in their rematch. Fury seems to find it difficult to make fights in the Middle East - rumour has it due to Saudis being put off by his connections with a legitimate businessman from Tallaght (although many leaders of the Saudi regime make this gentleman look like angel). I also wonder if they worry about Tyson likely pre fight antics at press conferences etc. You got to sell a shed load of PPV to compete with the site fees Saudi offer. My understanding is the Saudi effectively buy the fight, so own all TV rights etc but will give a fee well in excess of what they likely to make back through the sale of global rights- with the loss being a consider a investment in PR.

So although Tyson may shift more PPV he is not necessarily the top commercial prospect in the division. Financially, the best model for Usyk-Fury would have been a fight in the Middle East. Usyk had agreed a deal for this, for whatever reason Tyson was unable to do so