Eddie Hearn said he "had the money" for a deal that Tyson Fury meet with Oleksandr Usyk for the title of undisputed heavyweight champion, but added that the main obstacle to negotiations is that Fury does not want to meet Usyk in the next fight.
Hearn claims that preliminary negotiations, during which Anthony Joshua refuses a rematch and gets a guaranteed fight with the winner of the Fury-Usyk fight in November or December were positive, but progress was not possible, and at the moment everything is moving towards the fact that next Friday there will be a promotional auction for the Fury fight with Dillian Whyte.
“Nothing was done,” Hearn said. - We were ready to accept an offer that would cover many of our problems and open up an interesting option for Anthony Joshua. The reality is that Tyson Fury does not want to face Oleksandr Usyk in his next fight. He wants to have one more fight in March before the fight for the title of absolute champion, which I don't understand. Now he suddenly wants to fight Dillian Whyte instead of Oleksandr Usyk, so from today we are going to bid."
“It seems the first time this will happen because the situation has reached a stage where everyone is working hard to make everyone happy, but it turned out to be the hardest thing to talk Tyson Fury, and this is because, as far as I understand, he does not want to fight Usyk , he wants to have an interim fight,” Hearn added.
Hearn argues that although negotiations have been underway, no "long-term contracts" have yet been drawn up that would suit Fury, Usyk, Joshua and White. While Fury has been ordered to defend his WBC title against White, the interim champ, Joshua has a rematch clause in place to try to regain the WBA, WBO and IBF titles he lost to Usyk last September.
“The whole point is that everything needs to be coordinated with four boxers in order to move forward,” Hearn said. - This offer was not from fighters, but from promoters and venues who said: "We would like to do this." At the same time, Fury is like this: “You cowards, you took the release”, and the next day: “you lost 90 million, idiots.”
“There is money, but it’s not just about money. AJ is not interested in just taking the money and forgetting about everything. If there is a way to fight to determine who is the best heavyweight on the planet, then that means more to him than money. This will give him the opportunity to work with a new coach in a new environment, perhaps have an intermediate fight, and get the opportunity to fight the winner. If he fights Usyk in April or May, the winner of this fight will not be called the best heavyweight in the world. If he fights the winner of the Usyk-Fury meeting, then the winner will be No. 1.”
“He needs an absolute ironclad guarantee that the fight will take place this year, and not ‘it can happen next year’, he still doesn’t want to wait, but he has already been waiting for several months, he can have another fight, and he needs an offer that covers all these things. We are not at the stage of a long-term agreement yet, but can you call it the initial talk that “is this a plan that will interest you?“ Definitely yes.
“The plan has always been to have Fury fight Usyk for the undisputed title in April or May and then in December or November against AJ. But he says he wants to fight in March and it could be a non-title fight because of the Dillian Whyte situation. I don't know why he doesn't want to fight Usyk now, but he refuses to do it. All the deadlines have passed and now he says: “OK, I will fight Dillian Whyte,” Hearn added.
Hearn also claims that he will actively bid for the rights to arrange the fight between Fury and White.
“We made an entry fee for the auction, and provided a 10 percent deposit,” said the promoter. - You can send a bet and money via Zoom. It's not ideal for Arum and Warren if they don't win the bid. Personally, I wouldn't want to bid with my best fighter and lose control. I am not going to make millions for this, I will offer the right amount of money that this fight is worth and I will be very aggressive in this regard. We have nothing to lose in these auctions, unlike them."
At the same time, Hearn does not exclude the possibility that the auction may be postponed again.
“Fury changes his mind every day,” Hearn added. - He can say tonight: "Let's all sit down and try to figure everything out." At some point, the WBC may say enough is enough, but if both sides say they want to postpone the fight, they really have to. Both parties must come to an agreement. Dillian's opinion is that he will consider any options, but he wants to fight Tyson Fury. Now he is ready to go to the auction.”
