Tyson Fury has been told he "snookered" himself after Oleksandr Usyk accepted his seemingly ambitious demands for a heavyweight showdown.
The 'Gypsy King' is expected to meet Usyk in a mega-fight for the undisputed heavyweight titles on April 29 at Wembley Stadium with the pair having negotiated for several months. It looked at several points as if the showdown would collapse, with Fury making a public demand for a 70 per cent split in his favour only for Usyk to publicly accept the offer.
With one hurdle navigated, another appeared just as quickly with Fury demanding there is no rematch clause for either fighter - something Usyk also agreed to. However Fury's promoter Frank Warren appears to have teased the fight is done after promising big news in the coming weeks, which rival promoter Eddie Hearn has been left shocked that a deal has been reached.
"If he does get 70/30 it is an unbelievable deal for Tyson Fury," Hearn told talkSPORT when assessing the chances of Fury v Usyk happening according to plan. "The numbers that he wants for that fight are so far away from doing it at Wembley, but with Tyson sometimes he does the unpredictable. I'm quite surprised it is on because it is only six days away.
"But I think he snookered himself into a position where Usyk has turned around and accepted. Because Frank Warren said it was an easy fight to make and the split was 50-50. I just think people are starting to see through this now. But he is a great entertainer and he makes me look average at spinning things."
Fury has been teasing fans that the fight has finally been made, announcing he would no longer post on social media as he goes on his traditional blackout for training camp. Much has been made of the short preparation for the event, with under six weeks left until the huge clash is set to take place.
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Usyk similarly has already seen his training camp begin and this will likely be the biggest test of his career as he looks to become undisputed champion in a second weight class. However he has insisted he will undertake a different strategy to success given their size discrepancy.
Speaking on The Overlap in partnership with Sky Bet, Usyk said: "There will be changes in the strategy for the fight against Tyson, but I’ll continue to prepare in the same way. I’ll do lots of training, swimming, running, and boxing. There will be new workouts [as well], because Tyson is slightly different.
"He is big and tall, so his combinations and boxing style will be different. If a person is bigger than me, it doesn’t mean that they’re stronger. If they have longer arms, it doesn’t mean that it will be an advantage. I’ve been boxing since I was 15 years old. I’ve heard many opinions from people that I know well, and from people who I’ve met just once."
