Top Rank president Todd DuBoef says boxing fans can “dream” about a mega fight night pitting Tyson Fury, Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder in a historic heavyweight masterpiece, but also warns that “not all fights can be the world.” Final Cup’.
While Usyk will face mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois, Fury’s immediate future remains unclear as the WBC champion continues to be linked with multiple potential opponents.
The pair appeared to be on course to meet in an undisputed heavyweight blockbuster at Wembley Stadium in April, only for negotiations to break down amid what became something of a blame game.
Subsequently, reports, albeit tenuous, circulated of a possible Saudi superfight in which Fury would take on Usyk and Joshua would take on Wilder on the same card.
“There are so many challenges to make that happen,” DuBoef told Sky Sports. “I never say never, that’s a great idea.
“Can it really be executed? I don’t know. Is it real? I don’t know. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming. If it’s a big dream and it comes to fruition, it’s great for everyone, but if it’s a big dream and it does not come to fruition, it has a loss of expectations and a disappointment from the fighters and the fans.
“We don’t want a setup, we don’t want people to be disappointed because they expected something and it didn’t happen.
“That’s a lot of what happens on a daily basis, it’s ‘I want this fight but I didn’t get it’. That’s difficult because not every fight is the UEFA Champions League final, you have to have a regular season, you can’t. have the World Cup final every day.
“The public is critical of the sport because it doesn’t make it to the UEFA Champions League final three times a year.”
Apparently Usyk’s team was not happy with the idea of splitting the purse which heavily favored Fury, while Fury was highly critical of Usyk’s stance regarding securing a rematch clause.
Their differences would prolong the wait for a first undisputed heavyweight fight since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in November 1999.
Liverpool’s Callum Smith will challenge Artur Beterbiev for the unified light heavyweight world titles, live on Sky Sports in the UK on August 20. Top Rank Boxing president Todd DuBoef is hoping for a knockout in the fight, but he can’t predict who will win.
“I think one of the defining factors was timing because unfortunately you have the mandates and when you have all these titles you have a No. 1 contender lineup,” DuBoef explained.
“It’s a bit of organizational dysfunction that happens in this sport because we’re a century and a half old, you try to manage it, but I think that created some of the problems and the urgency of trying to get it done.” a certain amount of time.
“There are a number of problems and that was one of them.”
While the pair turn their attention to other opponents this summer, there is hope that a fight can be agreed upon before the end of the year.
“Ideally it would have been nice if the fight had already happened,” DuBoef added.
“Usyk is a great fight for him, (Anthony) Joshua is a great fight for him, those are the two fights we would love to see him do and I think those are the two fights he would like to do.
“Our goal has always been an alignment with what we think is best for him, the sport and the fans and those are the top two.”
Tyson Fury ‘knows what he wants’ but an undisputed world title fight against Oleksandr Usyk remains in ‘limbo’, says promoter Bob Arum
Meanwhile, Fury has been linked with a possible fight against Australia’s Demsey McKean, as he was down this week to see Joseph Parker in action.
“There are so many different options and obviously we partnered with Queensberry on the Fury project,” DuBoef said.
“The most important thing is that he wants to be in the ring, the problem is that we always want the Super Bowl in boxing and we say ‘why can’t we do this?’, timing is everything.
“The Usyk fight probably should have happened, but the timing wasn’t for the spring, so the question is can we get him back in the ring as soon as possible?
“We know that he loves activity for his mental stability and he loves being in the gym and motivated to fight.
“I’ve learned to be very flexible with Tyson’s opponents and upcoming fights because there’s a lot of impulse and ‘I want to do this.’ All we know is that he wants to fight and get in the ring as quickly as possible.”
“I think he wants to be in the ring, that’s our goal as well, to try to accommodate his need to get in the ring and keep him active.”
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