Eddie Hearn believes that Tyson Fury’s financial demands are preventing an undisputed heavyweight title showdown with Oleksandr Usyk.
Fury and Usyk are in negotiations to crown the first four-belt heavyweight title holder, but talks seems to have stalled with Fury’s promoter Frank Warren insisting a decision must be made by the end of this week.
A lucrative clash in Saudi Arabia appears to now be off the table with Wembley Stadium appearing to be the frontrunner should the pair seal a meeting on April 29.
Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk told talkSPORT that WBC champion, Fury, who was confronted by the 36-year-old after beating Derek Chisora in December, rejected an offer which would have seen the victor bank 60% of the overall split.
Speaking ahead of his show in Liverpool on Saturday, the Matchroom Chairman claimed ‘The Gypsy King’ is at fault for the lack of progress in discussions.
“Anthony Joshua fought Oleksandr Usyk back-to-back no f***ing problems,” Hearn told IFLTV.
“No questions. No long negotiations.
‘That’s my mandatory? I’ll fight him.’
“Everyone said swerve Usyk, he’s a tough tough fight, you don’t want to fight him, AJ said ‘no, I want to be undisputed, give me Usyk’. Done.
“The rematch comes in, you don’t want to fight Usyk, you need a warm up fight, ‘give me Usyk’.
“When are you guys going to start understanding.
‘It’s not about the money, I’ll fight him for free, and make the tickets free for the general public’. F**k Off! You want money, you want too much money, you’re not the draw you think you are.
“That fights not as big as you think it is.”
Hearn promoted Usyk’s last two fights against Anthony Joshua, which saw the Ukrainian claim the unified heavyweight world titles before defending them in a rematch in Saudi Arabia in August.
Joshua returns on April 1 against Jermaine Franklin in a must-win clash at the O2 Arena, his first non-world title bout in over seven years.
