Tyson Fury has given prospective bidders for the undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk seven days to come up with a £500million purse.
Fury confirmed he is willing to come out of retirement to face the Ukrainian for all four heavyweight world titles after Usyk's win over Anthony Joshua last weekend. Usyk has also insisted it is the only fight he is interested in with both teams confident of reaching a deal.
Saudi Arabia is leading the race to host the fight which would crown the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999, but even the oil-rich country will struggle to meet Fury's exorbitant demands. But the Brit insists he will settle for no less than a world-record purse in a video posted to social media.
"To all the suitors out there who want to make the fight, I'm going to give you all seven days, till September 1 to come up with the money; if not, thank you very much, it's been a blast and I'm retired," he said.
Fury has no chance of being paid £500m to fight Usyk, a purse which would dwarf the £200m earned by Floyd Mayweather for his fight with Conor McGregor in 2017. Usyk is set to earn £40m for his second win over Joshua and Saudi Arabia are set to increase that to around £60m for a fight with Fury.
The fight could take place as early as December 17, the night before the World Cup in Qatar, and while promoter Frank Warren is confident of striking a deal, he has warned the financial package must be right. "We’ve had preliminary discussions a couple of months ago and the bottom line is that now Usyk has said it’s the only fight he wants and it’s the same with Tyson," he said.
"The challenge is going to be meeting the financial expectations of both guys. It has to be much bigger than that (Usyk v Joshua II) because you’ve got two undisputed fighters and the first time the four belts have been on the line. It’s a unique situation and what adds to it is that they are both undefeated, which is quite unusual.
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"They’re not like two young kids coming up, these are guys who have been through the ringer and have done everything. Tyson trains hard all the time. He could be ready to fight in 10 weeks, there’s no doubt about that. Usyk is going to need a break now, so come winter it wouldn’t be a problem at all.
"It’s going to be all about money and about making it worthwhile for the guys. They’ve seen the money offered to the likes of golfers and so forth. This is not golf, this is much more dangerous and this is a unique sporting event, it’s sporting history. They’ve just done the Usyk v Joshua fight, but this is the ultimate prize in boxing – the undisputed heavyweight championship."
