Oleksandr Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, confirmed that they will honor the rematch clause in their contract with Tyson Fury by fighting him again.
What’s unclear is if Fury will take the rematch because Anthony Joshua’s promoter, Eddie Hearn, revealed today that they’re willing to fight Tyson next.
That’s the bigger money fight for Fury. Fighting Usyk will involve risk for Fury, and if he loses again, he’ll put Joshua and Hearn in a tough situation where they would need to decide whether it’s worth it to fight Tyson with him coming into the match off of consecutive defeats to Usyk.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) defeated Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) by a 12 round split decision last Saturday night in the undisputed heavyweight championship in Riyadh.
A Promise is a Promise
“We are men of our words. It’s not about paperwork – if we shake hands and promise something, we do it. I see no reason for the rematch not to take place,” said Krassyuk to Boxing King Media about Oleksandr Usyk to honor his contract for a rematch with Tyson Fury.
“It was a long count, wasn’t it? It was also a little bit of a borderline call,” said Usyk’s cutman Russ Anber to iFL TV, talking about the standing eight count that referee Mark Nelson gave to Tyson Fury in the ninth round after he was hurt by Oleksandr Usyk.
“Mark Nelson called it a knockdown when Tyson fell into the ropes. Do you call that a knockdown? Saying he was up. Well, the ropes held him up. You keep fighting. It’s not like he was entangled in the ropes,” Anber said about Fury in round nine.
“So, perhaps if he doesn’t call a knockdown, perhaps Usyk can finish the job. Calling it a knockdown, which is obviously great, bought him [Fury] the time that he needed [to recover]. You get the eight count, ‘Step this way, put your hands up. Are you ready to go?’
“He didn’t respond at first. He took his time, and remember when Michael Griffin stopped Anthony [Joshua] in New York [for his first fight against Andy Ruiz in 2019] when he didn’t respond by putting his hands up, they could have done the same thing.
“It seemed long in the recovery [for Fury]. When he got to eight,” said Anber about the referee Mark Nelson giving Fury a long time to recover with the standing eight count in the ninth round.
