Find out why professionals are using BoxBandz
Given the newly added pressure on Tyson Fury, the promoter of Oleksandr Usyk has a hard time seeing the mercurial heavyweight champion somehow bowing out (for whatever reason) of the upcoming May 18 undisputed championship.
Fury, the WBC titlist, is set to take on Usyk, the WBO, WBA, IBF, IBO champion, on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for the undisputed heavyweight championship—the new date after the original appointment, Feb. 17, had to be postponed because Fury suffered a cut, allegedly during a sparring session.
Krassyuk, who, like many others in Usyk’s orbit, expressed strong skepticism about the nature of Fury’s injury, given the Manchester, England native’s history of pulling out of high-profile fights, nonetheless does not expect catastrophe to strike twice.
Asked to gauge the level of surprise he would have if the fight was waylaid once more via Fury, Krassyuk said it would be fairly high. Krassyuk pointed to the fact that the potential absconder would have to fork over $10 million to the other opponent, an arrangement apparently made with powerful Saudi advisor Turki Alalshikh, under whose remit high-profile boxing has exploded in Saudi Arabia in the past six months.
Krassyuk also noted that, aside from the monetary penalty, Fury has an obligation to comply with Alalshikh, who has put his name on the line by defending Fury from detractors insisting his injury was self-induced.
“This time it would be definitely positive (surprise), something between 3 and 4 (on a scale of 1-10),” Krassyuk told SecondsOut. “I tell you why. Because now he’s under pressure. And he was the one to put himself under the circumstances. He’s under pressure from first financial—he’s responsible for $10 million. It’s not Turki Alalshikh who is giving this money from a budget. It’s Tyson Fury who has to pay his withdrawal.
“Number two: Turki Alalshikh, who is quite, how to say, an influential person, has given his reputation to save Tyson’s reputation. So this is another very important push on Tyson’s mental.”
Sean Nam is the author of Murder on Federal Street: Tyrone Everett, the Black Mafia, and the Last Golden Age of Philadelphia Boxing.