Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk could still fight, but it looks like it won’t be for the undisputed world heavyweight titles.
As it stands, Fury currently holds the WBC world title, while Usyk is the unified WBA, WBO and IBF champion, meaning a fight between the two could conceivably see the first undisputed heavyweight champion. crowned heavyweights in the era of the four belts.
That being said, the IBF recently threw a stumbling block in the way of a potential undisputed matchup, ordering Usyk to fight their mandatory challenger, Filip Hrgovic.
That would mean he either has to fight and delay a matchup with Fury or vacate the belt.
It looks like it won’t make any difference if Usyk quits though, as Fury has already said the undisputed titles won’t be on the line for him as he won’t pay the IBF penalty fee.
Fury has a long-standing feud with the IBF dating back to his victory over Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
At the time, Fury paid his penalty fee and won the title, but it was stripped less than two weeks later because he didn’t want to fight his mandatory challenger, Vyacheslav Glazkov.
As such, Fury believes he should have been reimbursed by the IBF and so, when asked if he feared the title was not on the line against Usyk, he told IFL TV: ” I do not care.
“Because it’s only for the IBF s***** title which I wouldn’t be boxing for anyway so the undisputed won’t be on the line for me because I won’t be boxing for the IBF and that’s a fact.
“I wouldn’t pay a sanction fee for the IBF, they’re w****** over there, they robbed me.
“Unless they reimburse me seven years ago for the sanction fee I paid them, they can never put a red belt on ‘The Gypsy King’.”
Fury then followed up by messaging IBF President Daryl J Peoples directly as he said, “Daryl, give me back my b**** money.
“Otherwise there will be no undisputed in the line for your s*** belt.”
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