Tyson Fury believes that he will earn double the purse he would make from fighting Anthony Joshua when he faces Oleksandr Usyk next year.
Fury, who holds the WBC world heavyweight title, expects to face the unified WBO, IBF and WBA super champion Usyk early next year in the Middle East. And he reckons that if the deal gets over the line, it will be the most lucrative fight in boxing; even more so than a potential battle of Britain with Joshua.
The two Brits were in talks to fight this month, but they broke down due to a number of factors, and Fury ended up facing Derek Chisora instead at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. And after a dominant win in that trilogy bout, he has set his sights solely on dethroning Usyk and crowning himself as the undisputed No.1 heavyweight.
"I don't think it'll happen," Fury said of a possible fight with Joshua during an interview with IFL TV. "If it was going to happen it would have happened in December just gone when Chisora stepped up, manned up and stepped up to the plate. I can guarantee you will not see it, 100 per cent. Like you didn't see Froch-Calzaghe, you didn't see Hatton-Witter, you didn't see Amir Khan vs any of them.
"It's not happening, mush, 100 per cent, it's not happening. I'm going to take on the man that beat him twice, so what is he? Irrelevant or what? I'm going to knock out the guy that beat him twice, what are they going to say about me then? 'Oh my gosh, who is this guy? Where has he come from?'"
Asked if he admits that the fight with Joshua is the biggest in the sport, Fury clapped back by saying that it was "nowhere near". It's the biggest fight in this country," he noted. "But it's not the biggest fight in boxing. Me and Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world [is bigger], no doubt. Two undefeated fighters, not a man who's been beat three of his last five fights.
Which fight would you prefer to see Tyson Fury take; Anthony Joshua or Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!
"I'm sure because [Joshua] doesn't bring anything to the table, and the undisputed heavyweight championship, that they kept talking about for the last ten years but could never win in their wildest dreams. That's the bigger fight, in terms of money, 100 per cent [I will earn more], probably double the amount.
"I'll earn double the amount from Usyk than I will from the other sausage. If it was going to happen it would have happened in December, 100 per cent. I'm looking to fight Usyk, Joshua's nemesis, the man who's got AJ's kryptonite, who made him cry after the fight like a little girl. 'I'm 18 stone', so? I'm 20 stone. I'll beat him.
"I'll take that little sausage out, he ain't got no kryptonite to me, he's f*** all to me. He's a little f***er, and I'm going to make him dance. We'll see how good he is, I'll show you how a proper, proper Englishman does to a little mush when I get him in there, get up!"
