Advertisement

Frank Warren admits Tyson Fury ‘may retire’ after Oleksandr Usyk fight collapses

Frank Warren admits Tyson Fury ‘may retire’ after Oleksandr Usyk fight collapses

Tyson Fury ‘may retire’ following the collapse of his fight with Oleksandr Usyk, according to his promoter Frank Warren.

The heavyweight champions were on course for a bout at London’s Wembley Stadium on 29 April, but the undisputed title fight fell apart this week, with both parties failing to agree on terms.

Unified champion Usyk is now expected to box Daniel Dubois next, as the 25-year-old Briton is the mandatory challenger to the Ukrainian’s WBA belt. Fury’s next step is less clear, however.

“Everything’s too raw at the moment,” Warren told Seconds Out on Thursday (23 March). “Listen, he may retire. I don’t know what he wants to do. He’ll do whatever he wants to do.

“I genuinely thought [Usyk] said what he wanted. He don’t care about money, he just wants to fight for the four belts, but he pulled out of the fight.

“You can dress it up, slag off me, slag off Tyson Fury, [but] they pulled out.”

Warren said earlier this week that the clash between Fury and Usyk collapsed due to a dispute around the purse split in a rematch clause.

“The money is in Tyson Fury,” Warren added on Thursday. “We’ve got hardcore boxing fans, but the people that make the money are crossing over to the guy in the street who don’t know who’s got what belts.

“They know who Fury is; they don’t really know who Oleksandr Usyk is.”

Fury, 34, last fought in December, beating fellow Briton Derek Chisora for the third time to retain the WBC title.

Meanwhile, Usyk, 36, last competed in August, outpointing Anthony Joshua for the second time in 11 months. Usyk won the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts with his first win against “AJ” and retained them in the rematch.

Click here to subscribe to The Independent’s Sport YouTube channel for all the latest sports videos.