Oleksandr Usyk accepted a huge $40million pay cut to fight Tyson Fury on a 70/30 split at Wembley Stadium after a deal in Saudi Arabia broke down.
The unified heavyweight champion was in talks until last week with fellow title holder Fury for the first ever undisputed title fight of the four-belt era, with the bout set for April 29 in London. But discussions fell apart between the two sides and now it appears they will go in separate directions for their next outings.
But the bout was first set to take place in the Middle East, with both sides agreeing different deals for their own ends. And promoter Bob Arum, who takes care of Fury's career in America, has declared that the pair were expecting much higher paydays in Saudi Arabia, particularly after Usyk made massive money during his last trip to face Anthony Joshua in August.
"In the Middle East, they have a tendency to put up a lot more money than any place else," Arum told reporter Steve Kim. "It's normal for all kinds of people whether they're promoters or fighters to hold out and hope that lightning strikes, I mean, that was the problem with Fury-Usyk negotiations.
"The deal that was worked out for Usyk in London was he was pretty well guaranteed between £12-15million which is almost $20m. But he had talked previously with the Saudis who were interested in doing this fight but not until the winter, where they had apparently agreed to pay him $60m. So can you blame him for being disappointed with $15-20m? No, that's human nature."
What are your thoughts on the massive pay cut that Usyk was willing to take for the undisputed fight? Let us know your take in the comments section below!
Once it was determined that the Middle East was out of the equation, Fury angled to move the fight to Wembley Stadium in London, where the pair would be paid considerably less. He then demanded that Usyk agree to an unheard of lopsided 70/30 split in order to make the fight happen.
When Usyk agreed, with the caveat that Fury donate £1m from his purse to the people of Ukraine, Fury then insisted that there be no rematch clause for the fight. It later emerged that Fury was also not planning to pay the £1m to Ukraine, and that the losing fighter's promoter would instead front the money.
Ultimately, talks broke down between the two sides when a split for the rematch couldn't be agreed, with Usyk's team wanting a reversal of the wild split if they entered the second fight as champion. Fury's team pushed for 50/50, and a deal was taken off the table with both men set for other challenges in the meantime.
