11 March 2023 , 09:35
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Tyson Fury has insisted he only needs six weeks to prepare for Oleksandr Usyk after the heavyweight rivals agreed terms for their undisputed heavyweight world title fight.
Fury and Usyk are set to clash at Wembley on April 29 after reaching a verbal agreement last night. The winner will be crowned the first undisputed champion in the division since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
The agreement was reached at the 11th hour after Fury looked to have blown his chances of a deal by demanding the lion's share of the purse. But Usyk later agreed to take just 30 per cent - as long as Fury donates £1million to his rivals' war-torn homeland Ukraine.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are set to clash next month (Top Rank via Getty Images)And in a video posted on social media, Fury said: "Today is the first day of my training for the Usyk fight. I don't need six months, or four months, I've got six weeks and a week's rest. Done, happy days.. I'm going to impose my will on this little sneaky motherf***er. Get up lads, cannot wait, rule Britannia!"
A deal to split the purse down the middle had fallen apart earlier this week with Fury accused of demanding too much money. He appeared to confirm those claims when he took to social media to demand a seemingly-unrealistic 70 per cent of what will be a multi-million-pound pot.
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But Usyk stunned his rival but accepting the deal in principle. “Hey, greedy belly. I accept your offer – 70-30 split the fight with you on April 29 at Wembley," he said. “But you will promise to donate to Ukraine immediately after the fight, £1million. And for every day of your delay you will pay one per cent from your purse to Ukrainian people. Deal?”
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And the WBA, whose belt Usyk holds, later confirmed they had received word from both teams that an agreement had been reached, subject to contracts being signed, meaning they refrained from ordering Usyk to instead fight his mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois.
Their statement read: "WBA President Gilberto Mendoza received confirmation from Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury's teams that there is an agreement to make the unification fight. They request time to work on the contracts to close the deal."
Fury has been out of the ring since December when he stopped Derek Chisora in the 10th round of a one-sided beatdown. Usyk, meanwhile, has not fought since he outpointed Anthony Joshua four months earlier to retain his three belts.