Oleksandr Usyk has questioned "lunatic" Tyson Fury's demand for £500 million to accept an undisputed title clash.
Usyk recently defeated Anthony Joshua to retain his unified titles before calling the name of the 'Gypsy King' for a fight to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. Fury quickly accepted Usyk's offer and the pair held talks which have since been put to one side, with the latter keen to wait until next year while he recovers from injuries and returns home to his family in Ukraine.
Prior to the bout Fury had demanded a world-record purse of £500 million to accept the fight, writing in a previous Instagram story: "The world's biggest fight has to be the world's biggest money. If I'm to put it all on the line vs some unknown foreigner. Boys better get that half a billion, if not keep the little mug. If it was AJ it would have been free but it's not, only power in the waters."
The unified champion has now responded to Fury's demand, but believes it could be good news if he somehow pulled it off as he would expect to receive the same amount. : “He’s talking about 500 million pounds for the fight," Usyk told Parimatch when discussing a potential clash with Fury next year. "He’s a lunatic, but in a good sense I mean. I’d also want 500 million, but it’s something crazy.
"Fury is talking and he’s already selling the fight. So, he’ll agree on it because it would be such an impressive bout. And as we were talking with the organisers of the fight against AJ in Saudi Arabia, the promoters were already interested in organising a bout against Fury at another stadium with capacity of 80-90 thousand. Hopefully it will take place here in Ukraine, although it’s just a dream at the moment. But dreams can come true.
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“I don’t know anything about what Tyson Fury is doing or thinking. We’re in negotiations talking about a match and we’re doing our best to make this bout happen. Of course, I really want to have this fight next year. But if Tyson Fury is not interested in a match next year, then it’s not possible to fight against him. I’m not interested in fighting any other boxer, so let’s wait.”
Fury was currently deep in negotiations for a fight with Joshua instead but the fight appears to have now been called off again after 'AJ' missed the deadline to sign the contract. The 'Gypsy King' is now expected to take a voluntary defence against German heavyweight Manuel Char r on December 3 before reviving interest in a shot at Usyk when he is available next year.
