Tyson Fury’s US promoter Bob Arum has told K2 Promotions chief Alexander Krassyuk to ‘shut up’ after talking ‘too much’ to the press about the undisputed fight with Oleksandr Usyk. Krassyuk has been very vocal in the last few days that he will accept no less than a 50-50 purse split for the proposed four-belt shoot-out.
Usyk vs Fury is being targeted for April 29 at Wembley Stadium after plans to stage it in Saudi Arabia fell through. Initial reports suggested that the fight would be heading to England after the Saudis were unable to confirm whether they could build their new arena in Jeddah in time for the event.
However, Arum claims the change of location is down to representatives of The Kingdom not being keen on making the fight in the ‘time period required’.
“The money if the fight was to be held in Saudi Arabia, which it’s not going to be because they’re not anxious to do that fight in the time period required, you’ve gotta put that aside because that money was really very big compared to what is realistic,” Arum told iD Boxing.
“I like Alexander. He’s a nice guy and he’s Ukrainian. I love Ukraine. But he should shut up and not negotiate in the press. I will not negotiate this fight in the press even a little. The negotiations have to be behind the scenes.”
“I am not gonna talk about percentages of statements, because once you start negotiating in the press, it all falls apart. Because then the ego of people comes to the fore, and that trumps common sense … I’m sure we’ll put it together and hopefully have an announcement shortly.”
Krassyuk recently flew over to England for crunch talks with Fury’s representatives and is ‘positive’ about the fight’s chances.