Tyson Fury's promoter Frank Warren insists Oleksandr Usyk's demand for a rematch clause caused the rivals' fight to collapse.
The 'Gypsy King' was set to meet Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight titles on April 29 at the Wembley Stadium, and the pair were closing in on an agreement after months of negotiations. But there were several stumbling blocks, with Fury demanding the purse was split 70/30 in his favour.
Usyk accepted the demand and it appeared the fight would be on, before Fury demanded that there was no rematch clause on the unified champion's side. After a period of silence it appeared that the WBC champion had entered training camp for the fight and the remaining issues were ironed out.
However Usyk's manager Egis Klimas suggested this morning that the fight would no longer go ahead with Fury making disrespectful demands following the final contract being drawn up. However Fury's promoter Warren has insisted it is simply the rematch clause that is preventing a final agreement from being reached.
He said on talkSPORT: "I convinced Tyson to take the rematch. Then we got into how the money will be split in the rematch. The rematch has become a sideshow. Why can't this be overcome if Usyk wants the fight? All the splits were agreed. Who walks in first was agreed. If it's a great fight then we will make the rematch.
“On Sunday we had a conference call with all the parties on board. Egis, Alex Krassyuk were discussing the outstanding issues, pretty petty stuff. We got it all out of the way except the rematch. "You know why they want the rematch clause? Because it's two paydays. They're not going to get the payday anywhere else apart from Tyson. We're willing to do the same deal on the rematch as they did with Anthony Joshua on the rematch."
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Fury and Usyk have been locked in talks ever since the pair came face-to-face following the Briton's win over Derek Chisora in December. The fight has been both on and off on several occasions, despite both teams being confident for several weeks that they can get the showdown made.
The British star's demands were made largely in public via social media, with Usyk regularly firing back and accepting demands in a bid to get the talks over the line. It remains unclear if a deal can now be done, given Daniel Dubois' opportunity to challenge for the WBA title which is set to be mandated if the undisputed fight is not agreed.
