Lennox Lewis blames Fury-Usyk collapse: ‘They didn’t want it’

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Lennox Lewis has given his thoughts on the collapse of the Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight.

Fury looked set to take on Usyk in a fight to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lewis himself in 1999.

To the surprise of most boxers, the Ukrainian agreed to a 70-30 purse split for the fight to take place at Wembley Stadium on April 29. With this concession, it looked like the fight was on, but disagreements over rematch finances saw negotiations stall.

Both sides took a lot of the stick for the failure to reach a deal, although Usyk’s team later admitted they were the ones who pulled the plug, believing they were only getting not a fair deal.

Lewis initially said he didn’t understand why today’s boxers didn’t want to make history.

I don’t understand how this culture isn’t hungry to make history. The money will ALWAYS be there and if they protect it, it will be more than they could ever need. I think they are preparing a big fight in December, but if they play their cards wrong, everything could fall apart.

‘The Lion’ has now gone further, saying nothing can stop a fight if both men want it.

“If two fighters want to fight, they’ll fight their way.”

What is said is that I fought for the glory and the money came. If two fighters want to fight, they will fight their way.

— Lennox Lewis, CBE, CM (@LennoxLewis) April 5, 2023

It remains to be seen whether the pair will seek to restart negotiations, with talk of trying to set up the fight in Saudi Arabia at the end of the year.

Attention now turns to who they will face next. Usyk has made it clear that he will begin fulfilling his mandatory obligations with the WBA by ordering Daniel Dubois negotiations, with a May 2 deadline to complete a deal.

Fury has gone quiet since the collapse but is no shortage of options, with Joe Joyce, Andy Ruiz Jr and of course Anthony Joshua all possibilities.

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