Tyson Fury has been told by Oleksandr Usyk's former opponent Michael Hunter that he "dodged" a fight against the Ukrainian.
Fury was expected to meet Usyk at the end of April but the undisputed heavyweight title fight collapsed after both parties failed to reach an agreement. Usyk is now expected to defend his WBA belt against mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in August with Fury mocking the Ukrainian for seemingly taking more than a 50 per cent pay cut for the fight.
Hunter lost a unanimous decision when he challenged Usyk for his cruiserweight title in 2017 and the American has blamed Fury for the undisputed heavyweight title fight falling apart. “Tyson kind of dodged that [fight against Usyk] and he didn’t make the fight happen," he told Boxing Social.
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"If he’s the best in the world, it would be very easy to fight him, he would be the A-side in all of that. He had all the marbles in his hands, and he still didn’t take the fight. Fighters like that, that are a little smaller, that move well, give fighters like him problems and we’ve seen it time and time again.”
“I think that it is poor for the sport, as far as him being the top heavyweight, he has the responsibility to make boxing shine and I think that it’s just bad for boxing as a whole. I feel like for him to not just get in a fight and make it happen, but to instead play with boxing and bargaining, it’s become a normal tactic for him.”
Fury claimed that he sent a draft contract to domestic rival Anthony Joshua for a potential September meeting, but Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn denied receiving the offer. Fury's promoter Frank Warren has insisted they sent a "written proposal" to Joshua and his team, but 'AJ' turned down the offer as he wants to fight in August before a potential clash against Deontay Wilder in December.
Hunter, who hasn't fought in over a year, thinks that Fury doesn't fight well against undersized heavyweights, such as himself. The American moved up to heavyweight from cruiserweight following his loss to Usyk, with his most notable win coming against Martin Bakole in 2018. "Any time that he [Fury] has been in the ring with a guy that is a little bit smaller and has good feet, it’s been trouble, and that’s me," he added.
