Furious Laura Woods slams 'catastrophe' of Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk collapsing and says fans 'deserve better'

Laura Woods has insisted that boxing fans “deserve better” after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s undisputed heavyweight unification fight appeared to fall through.

Fury and Usyk were expected to settle their rivalry once and for all in a hotly anticipated super-fight at Wembley Stadium on 29th April.

However, Fury issued a series of demands to unified champion Usyk, including a 70-30 purse split in his favour and a rematch clause to be axed from the deal.

Usyk, who captured his titles from Anthony Joshua before successfully defending them against the Brit, called out Fury’s bluff and agreed to the purse split.

But the 36-year-old Ukrainian’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, on Wednesday claimed that the mega-fight had fallen through and pulled no punches towards WBC champ Fury.

“The fight is called off. The reason for that is it went too far,” he told talkSPORT.

“There was a feeling that after Usyk accepted 70-30 Tyson Fury started to think he can put a saddle on his neck and start riding Usyk as much as he can. It is not right.

“Usyk accepted the 70/30 split. He was so loyal and he was so willing to make this fight happen. But this fight is not about Tyson Fury. It is about the WBC belt and expanding his collection.

“If it is so complicated that Tyson tries to avoid it by putting so many obstacles in front of making the deal, then there is no need to put more effort into it.

READ MORE:

• Frank Warren says Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk is NOT dead yet, plans to hold further talks
• Why Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for 29th April collapsed
• Dana White slams state of boxing with Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk on verge of collapsing

“The only thing that stays in my mind is that undisputed stays our highest priority and we will do our best to make it happen within the shortest period of time and whoever is the temporary holder of the WBC belt, we will try to make it happen.”

Speaking on her morning breakfast show, Woods claimed that Fury vs Usyk falling through is a “catastrophe” for boxing’s PR and also said it doesn’t shine a positive light on the ‘Gypsy King.’

“Every time the posts were moved, Usyk agreed to it,” she said on talkSPORT.

“Boxing fans in this country deserve better. Fight fans in general deserve better.

“It’s a catastrophe in terms of PR for the world of boxing at the moment. It doesn’t look good for Fury. I don’t understand it.”

Topics: Tyson Fury, Laura Woods, Oleksandr Usyk, Boxing

Adnan Riaz

Adnan Riaz is a journalist for SPORTbible. He studied for a B.A. in History at the University of York and followed it up with an M.A. in Multimedia Journalism at MMU. Before he started writing about sports, he spent over four years in the gaming press. He has worked for several publications, including Hardcore Gamer, LADbible and the Manchester Evening News. Follow him on Twitter to find out what he is working on next. Got a story tip for Adnan? Email him: [email protected]

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