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WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury is applying a lot of pressure on Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBO, IBF, IBO, WBA titles, to face him sooner than later.
Fury wants to return at the end of the year – but Usyk wants to take a few months off and stage that fight in early 2023. The Ukrainian boxer wants to heal up his body and spend some time with his family.
Usyk was in action last month in Saudi Arabia, when he picked up a hard-fought twelve round decision win in his rematch with Anthony Joshua.
Fury warns that he’s open to targeting Joshua – despite suffering back to back defeats – if a deal is not reached for a unification with Usyk.
“I still think, even though he’s lost three of his last five fights… I still think that people would like to see that fight,” Fury said to BT Sport. “If that [Usyk] fight doesn’t happen, then we’ll go and offer AJ the fight.”
Joshua is targeting a comeback fight, against a top 15 opponent, in the month of December.
Fury, known for making plenty of controversial statements in the past, refused to criticize Joshua for his post-fight rant in the aftermath of losing the rematch with Usyk.
“I saw all that, but I’m not someone to jump on somebody like that. I don’t give a f— what somebody says; that’s up to them, none of my business. Listen, everyone has to do what they have to do in life, and it’s none of my business what he does after the fight,” Fury said.
“My job is boxing, not what he said. I’ve said tons of sh!t in the past, I don’t want judging on it. My job is boxing, so I judge these guys on their boxing performances – not on what they do outside of boxing. No interest in that sh!t.”