Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, Alexander Krassyuk, believes Tyson Fury will not fulfil the rematch clause in his contract for the undisputed fight.
The four-belt shootout is scheduled to take place on May 18 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Regardless of the result of their inaugural encounter, they are expected to meet again as there is a two-way rematch clause inserted into the terms of their deal.
However, Krassyuk isn’t convinced a second fight will go ahead after witnessing Fury pull out of his proposed rematch with Wladimir Klitschko in 2016.
“I’ve not got too much confidence in the rematch happening, by the way,” Krassyuk told Boxing Scene.
“If Tyson Fury loses, will he have the confidence to step inside the ring again?
“Theoretically, he can, but we all know what happened in the rematch with Wladimir Klitschko.”
Fury snapped Klitschko’s remarkable 11-year undefeated streak in 2015 to snatch the WBA (Super), IBF and WBO heavyweight world titles from the long-reigning champion.
Klitschko was entitled to a rematch but Fury pulled out of the contest twice before stepping away from the sport for two and a half years as his mental health spiralled out of control.
The Ukrainian never got his second fight with Fury and retired a year later after being stopped by Anthony Joshua.
Fury has since clawed his way back to the top of the glamour division and now has the opportunity to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era if he beats Usyk next month.
The heavyweight titans were originally expected to meet on February 17 but their fight was pushed back after ‘The Gypsy King’ sustained a cut in sparring.
Should either man pull out of the fight this time around then they will be fined $10million but Krassyuk still has concerns.
“Usyk has actually had a triple camp for this fight,” he added.
“He started in September for the fight to take place last December. We showed up to the Ngannou fight to step in the ring to announce the fight for the undisputed, but his team jumped and said he didn’t look that good, so Usyk gave him some space to prepare at his camp in Saudi Arabia.
“We were then meant to fight on Feb. 17, then we were rescheduled for May. Tyson Fury has withdrawn four times already from this fight.
“Remember that we were looking to fight last April; he pulled out of it then, too. That’s why we fought Daniel Dubois. This will be the fourth camp we have had for Tyson Fury.”
A contingency plan is in place so that Usyk will still box on May 18 regardless of whether Fury is standing across from him.
“The IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic will be the replacement if [Fury] does it again…
“Otherwise we will lose the [IBF] title. It was one of our conditions. The game is about being undisputed. It’s not about money – it’s about heritage, about glory.
“Tyson Fury says he doesn’t care about that, but at the press conference he was saying, ‘Wow, the IBF, the WBO, the WBC, the WBA, the Ring Magazine, the undisputed, the lineal,’ which I’ve never heard of.”
Hrgovic is currently preparing to face Daniel Dubois on the Dmitry Bivol vs Artur Beterbiev in June so he will be in good enough condition to replace Fury on short notice should it come to that.
News Summary:
- Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter doubts Tyson Fury will fulfil key aspect of fight deal after failing to do so against Wladimir Klitschko
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