Deontay Wilder has told boxing fans that they "can't be surprised" after yet another high profile heavyweight title fight fell by the wayside this week between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.
The hard-hitting former champion has been in the ring with Fury three times, and has been keen to step in with the unified champion Usyk later this year. But he understands that with as many moving parts as there are for an undisputed bout, fans shouldn't necessarily have been expecting the April 29 bout to happen.
Wilder and Fury's trilogy almost didn't happen until a judge enforced the American's rematch clause following his knockout loss in their second bout. And with no such guarantee on Usyk's end this week, the undisputed clash between he and Fury ended up falling apart.
Speaking in Las Vegas at the David Benavidez vs Caleb Plant fight, Wilder told reporters last night: "This is the business of boxing, it’s a very difficult business. For me the business of boxing is one of the most difficult businesses to be in because it has no structure, so it can go any way.
"It has so many loopholes, so many tunnels, so many avenues it can travel, so it’s not a surprise to me that it fell apart like that. Just like many other fights before, so we can’t be surprised at this because we’ve seen so many of the best fights that we think would have happened but didn’t happen and fall apart. So for me a fight isn’t final until you get in the ring and the bell goes ding.”
Do you agree with Deontay Wilder's assessment of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
Fury and Usyk had appeared to publicly agree to terms for the bout, including a lopsided 70/30 split in favour of the Brit on top of his home country advantage and no rematch clause. But there ended up being a rematch put into final contracts, and it was the split for that bout which cost them the contest.
At the eleventh hour Alex Krassyuk; Usyk's promoter, called into a radio show where Frank Warren; Fury's promoter, was discussing proceedings during the week. But after positive talks, ultimately a deal could not be reached and the Ukrainian left his training camp in Turkey to return to war-torn Kyiv.
