Eddie Hearn has claimed that Tyson Fury has now decided, "he doesn't wanna fight Oleksandr Usyk"

Hearn was desperate to have Fury fight Usyk with AJ getting a guaranteed shot at the winner. Thus he wants to pretend that Fury "ducked" Usyk, who AJ had an immediate rematch clause with! Hearn knows that AJ will probably lose the rematch, which would tank his value and damage him psychologically even further and possibly scupper the hypothetical Fury-AJ "superfight" and all the cash that would entail. It's very clear that AJ was willing to come to the table to step aside, so taking the rematch now doesn't look as brave as it did before. AJ was looking for a way out but has been forced back into it by Fury not taking his place.

If Usyk beats AJ again and Fury beats Whyte, Fury will fight Usyk for undisputed. Of course, morons will give Fury no credit (just as they didn't for the Wlad away or Wilder away x3 fights) and then claim that he's ducking someone else. Par for the course.

Tactically it makes sense for Fury to let AJ fight Usyk again (though financially it may well cost him as it reduces the likelihood of Fury-AJ ever happening but if AJ wins and revives his reputation then it could both give him an easier fight and more money) let Usyk age and incur wear and tear in the rematch and get another chance to study him (it would only be his 4th HW fight). This is questionable though as it gives Usyk more high level SHW experience and Fury could be declining at a faster rate, considering his history. However, Fury has been extremely inactive over the last 23 months, so it makes sense to get another activity fight in against Whyte. It also made a lot of sense to mess AJ and Hearn around with an implied willingness to fight Usyk next, as it serves to annoy/troll them, destabilise AJ further psychologically and gives him less time to prepare. Same for Whyte (also exposed as being willing to take step aside instead of insisting on his "mandatory" shot!) who has been frustrated, stuck in limbo and increasing in age/inactivity.

 

Hearn and Usyk’s team are such unlikeable ****suckers

 

I’ve posted this already but what the he..

AJ asked for 20m & Dillian 8m to step aside, the amount Saudi were prepared to pay was 15m & 3m respectively so the shortfall was supposed to come out of Fury & Usyks purses which Usyk (not 100%) agreed but Fury didn’t.

Hearn loves to spin things in his favour even when his fighters are asking for extortionate amounts…


Both great fights anyway…

 

Hearn is just manipulating now, trying to make AJ seem the braver fighter for taking on Usyk.
I suspect Fury rejects this because of the amount of money Hearn/AJ wanted or other parts of the deal.
He didn't like giving Wilder step aside and was vocal about that at the time. This is probably the same theme. If that's the case, Fury is right to reject paying millions to Hearn-J for nothing.
The problem Fury has is he doesn't want to reward Joshua or Whyte but he is being forced to due to the power and corruption of Matchroom.

 

I believe Usyk's manager because he has no reason to lie.

 

That's nuts. NOBODY needed to pay Joshua anything. If Joshua didn't want to fight Usyk, and clearly he doesn't, just don't activate the rematch clause.

This was just a money grab. Joshua didn't want the immediate rematch and just wanted a free payday. That's all it was.

You watch, Joshua will drag this out with Usyk as Joshua "works" with his new trainer ... and in a couple of months Joshua will ask Usyk to agree to let him have a tuneup.

And Joshua's sycophants will all say he needs a tuneup and it's "smart."

And, at that point, Fury and Whyte will be about to fight ... Usyk will have to look for a new opponent ... and Joshua will fight someone else in a tuneup ...

Which is what Joshua wanted all along.

And then Joshua and Hearn will focus on Fury and they'll just forget Usyk.

There isn't going to be a second Joshua and Usyk fight.

 

If giving Whyte a shot and a payday is the price he must pay for destroying AJ, so be it. The WBC seems to have his back, so Whyte looks likely to receive only a relatively small proportion of the split. Fury can also do Whyte some serious damage and potentially ruin what's left of his punch resistance.

 

I'm with Fury, screw paying out of his own money for AJ and Whyte to step aside.
Smash Whyte up on PPV, then take the undisputed against Usyk later in year.

 

I'm sure he doesn't. Usyk is being phased out.

Fury will fight Whyte. Joshua will push this fight back and back and then ask for a tuneup.

After Fury beats Whyte, Joshua/Hearn will try to make Fury-Joshua.

 

This is so boring now

 

That would be great. But something tells me, after Fury dispatches Whyte, that Hearn and Joshua will come with more money and try to convince Fury and Arum that Fury-Joshua is BIGGER.

And Arum will bite. No doubt.

Usyk will be left fighting WBA, IBF and WBO mandatories.

 

Are you saying Johnson will duck Usyk

 

Who is Johnson?

 

Fury-AJ, with only Fury's WBC-Ring-lineal up for grabs against a 2 loss ducker? Risk and no reward? Would it even be a superfight at that point? Fury-Usyk for undisputed may be worth more than Fury vs a titleless AJ. And considering Fury's history with Hearn and AJ, he may well prefer to fight Usyk and phase AJ/Hearn out of the picture.

 

I would hope Fury would choose Usyk and four titles over Joshua.

It's been so long since there was one unified champion at heavyweight that people don't remember how that elevates purses and brings new money (and new players and power brokers willing to spend money) to the table, as well.

The point is right now I don't see Joshua fighting Usyk again. Hearn and Joshua will push the rematch back ... and after Fury wins ... go that route and a UK Superfight.

If everyone had been dumb enough to pay Joshua a step-aside fee, he was never going to fight Usyk again anyway. He was looking for Fury to whip Usyk for him.

Now Hearn and Joshua will just stall until Fury-Whyte concludes and go after Fury again.