“We were quite close”- Frank Warren reveals how the Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk fight almost materialized
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Frank Warren- Oleksandr Usyk, Bob Arum and Tyson Fury
Legendary boxing promoter Frank Warren definitely knows a thing or two about making fights and also knows how almost official it was for his fighter Tyson Fury to go against Oleksandr Usyk in what would have been perhaps the biggest title unification fight of this century in boxing. Fury, the undefeated Brit who is the current WBC and The Ring heavyweight champion of the world, is now going to face interim-WBC heavyweight champion, Dillian Whyte in a title unification match on April 23, 2022, in Wembley Stadium, London, England.
Usyk on the other hand, who is the WBC, WBA, IBO and IBF heavyweight champion, just came from defending his birth nation of Ukraine for quite some time due to the ongoing hostile situation made due to complications in international politics between Ukraine itself and Russia. Many other Ukrainian boxers are still there trying to contribute by joining the armed forces, which include the likes of Vasiliy Lomachenko and the Klitschko brothers.
Frank Warren says Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk would not have happened anyway due to the Russia-Ukraine situation
In their last fights respectively, Fury closed his rivalry with a trilogy against former heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder by knocking Wilder out in a spectacular fashion in the eleventh round. Usyk on the other hand, came up from cruiserweight to challenge the preceding heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua, for all the aforementioned titles Usyk now holds and hence the Ukrainian handed Joshua his second career loss via unanimous decision.
In an interview with TalkSport, Warren talks about how close was the deal being sealed for a fight between Usyk and Fury to happen for the title unification, which would’ve eventually decided the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. But due to Joshua playing his rematch clause on Usyk and WBC commanding Fury to first unify the title by going against Dillian Whyte, the fight was called off.
“We were quite close to getting it done,“ says Warren “We were very close to getting it done but you know the WBC…[also] it [the fight] wouldn’t have happened anyway with the terrible situation in Ukraine… and Usyk, by the way, wasn’t going to be ready till June anyway. So it just would not have happened… [However] The winner of the fight [between Usyk and Joshua] versus Tyson is a mega, mega-fight,“ concludes Warren.
What do you make of Warren’s statements on the upcoming fight for Fury if he defeats Whyte and his experience on the fight deal between Usyk and Fury being close to being done until it wasn’t? Who do you think wins between Whyte and Fury, and between Usyk and Joshua? Do you think we would be able to witness Usyk vs Fury in near future?
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Abhai Singh Tanwar
(1386 Articles Published)