After the subsiding of the potential fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, promoter Bob Arum confirmed Usyk was offered an astronomical figure by the Saudis to fight ‘The Gypsy King’. However, the condition was Usyk fought Fury in Saudi Arabia, and that too during the winter of 2023. Pulling the strings, the WBC World Heavyweight champion of the world made Usyk agree to a 70/30 split. However, the fight collapsed due to a disagreement on terms beyond the “greedy-belly” deal.
Bob Arum on the Haney vs Loma negotiations, and how Middle East money factors into it nowadays… #Boxing pic.twitter.com/58LBN0cKqh
— Steve Kim (@SteveKim323) March 30, 2023
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Since ‘The Cat’ had to face a mandatory challenger in Daniel Dubois, Usyk and Fury had to sign the contract by the 1st of April. Probably because of that reason, the Ukrainian boxer had to let go of the luscious offer made by the Saudis. Recently, the CEO of Top Rank Boxing revealed Usyk was offered three times the figure he could potentially make in the UK fighting Fury.
Bob Arum claims the Saudis offered Oleksandr Usyk $60M to face Tyson Fury
In a recent interview uploaded by Steve Kim, Bob Arum disclosed that Usyk had personally talked to the Saudis. Being highly interested in staging the fight in Saudi Arabia, the Saudis even offered Usyk $60M to face Fury in the winter of 2023. “If Usyk was in London, he was pretty well guaranteed between £12m-£15m (close to being $20M). But he had talked previously to the Saudis who were interested in doing this fight but not until the winter. They had apparently agreed to pay him $60m,” declared Arum following the crumpling of Fury vs. Usyk.
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Undoubtedly, this revelation gives rise to several questions concerning the much-anticipated Fury vs. Usyk fight in boxing. Anyway, Usyk will now face Daniel Dubois in the ring. However, Fury is yet to disclose his next potential bout in boxing.
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What do you make of Usyk being offered $60M to fight Tyson Fury? Do you think the fight will take place in Saudi Arabia? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below.
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