May 26, 2023 Source: Boxing Scene
Photo Source: Boxing Scene
Top Rank president Todd DuBoef, who co-promotes WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury, would like to see his boxer matched in a major fight - especially a full division unification with IBF, IBO, WBA, WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Earlier this year, Fury and Usyk were in serious talks for an April fight at Wembley Stadium. The contest fell apart after both fighters were unable to agree on the financial terms for the rematch clause. Usyk is now heading to a mandatory defense against WBA "regular" champion Daniel Dubois, which is targeted to take place on an August date in Poland.
Fury is currently without an opponent, but he's discussed the idea of a summer fight in the UK or Australia.
DuBoef gave his take on the issues which plagued the Fury-Usyk negotiations. The goal for Top Rank is get Fury in the ring with both Usyk and former two-time champion Anthony Joshua.
"I think one of the defining factors was the timing of it because unfortunately you have the mandatories and when you have all these titles you have a line of No 1 contenders," DuBoef explained to Sky Sports.
"It's a little bit of organization disfunction that happens in this sport because we're a century-and-a-half old, you try to manage it but I think that created some of the issues and the urgency of trying to get it in a certain amount of time. There are a number of issues and that was one of them. "Ideally it would have been nice if the fight had already happened. Usyk is a big fight for him, (Anthony) Joshua is a big fight for him, those are the two fights we'd love to see him do and I think those are the two fights he'd like to do. Our objective has always been an alignment with what we think is best for him, the sport and the fans and those are the two at the top. "There are so many different options and obviously we partner with Queensberry on the Fury project. The most important thing is he wants to be in the ring, the problem is we always want the Super Bowl in boxing and we're saying 'why can't we make this?', timing is everything. The Usyk fight probably should have happened but the timing was off for the spring so the question is can we get him back in the ring as soon as possible? We know he loves activity for his mental stability and loves to be in the gym and motivated for a fight."
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