Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk fight moves one step closer

It had been reported that a possible showdown between the pair had been in jeopardy after Fury, who turned down a previous date in Saudi Arabia, sought 70 per cent of the total purse for a fight to be held in London.

However, last Friday saw Usyk post a brief social media message in which he said he would accept Fury’s terms – as long as he made a £1m donation to those affected by the war in Ukraine.

Usyk said: “Hey, greedy belly. I accept your offer – 70-30 split the fight with you on April 29 at Wembley.

“But you will promise to donate to Ukraine immediately after the fight, £1m. And for every day of your delay you will pay one per cent from your purse to Ukrainian people. Deal?”

Fury had earlier posted a video of his own, laying out his terms for the contest and insisting Usyk’s percentage would fall by one per cent for every day the Ukrainian delayed.

The current WBC champion, Fury last fought in December when he stopped domestic rival Derek Chisora at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium; a fight which Usyk witnessed at ringside.

Usyk, who holds the WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO belts, has not stepped in the ring since defending his titles with a second consecutive defeat of Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia last August.

With a deadline of 10pm last Friday to agree a unification fight, the World Boxing Association tweeted that evening: “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. #UsykFury”.

Prior to that development, Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, had told the BBC that a 60-40 split had been rejected by Fury and that Usyk could instead fight Daniel Dubois.

Krassyuk had said: “Unless Queensberry (Fury’s promoters) somehow win a jackpot lottery and have enough money to pay Tyson’s demands, it is very unlikely to happen.”