The much-speculated fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk has reportedly been called off, according to the Ukrainian boxer’s manager, Egis Klimas.
As per SNAC and Ring magazine writer Steve Kim, who had a phone call with Klimas on Tuesday, the fight scheduled for 29 April this year has now been postponed indefinitely, adding that Usyk and his team must “pursue their mandatory obligations” first, i.e. the fight against challenger Daniel Dubois.
Fight fans will be frustrated as the fighters were said to have been given a 10 March deadline to reach an agreement over the bout — with Fury offering a 70/30 split — however, it appears that only a ‘tentative agreement’ was ever reached and the WBA now expect Usyk to fight dubois before the WBC champion.
Kim went on to quote Klimas as having insisted that “no matter how much Usyk compromised, he was pushed for more” from Fury’s camp ahead of the final deadline on April 1, stating “enough is enough” and that they are now eyeing up a return in June/July. This does all feel like a bit of an early April Fool’s.
Just got off the horn with Egis Klimas, he says that team Usyk is moving off the Fury fight for April 29th, and will now pursue their mandatory obligations. "No matter how much Usyk compromised, he was pushed for more." They hope to have him back in June/July #boxing
— Steve Kim – the Thomas Sowell of Boxing (@SteveKim323) March 22, 2023
These claims have since been backed up by ESPN‘s Mike Coppinger, who explained that the final Fury vs Usyk talks ultaimtely collapsed because they “couldn’t agree on other material terms critical to the deal beyond the purse split”.
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While it is unclear as to the exact terms being argued over, Usyk informed his follwers earlier this month that he agreed to the inital 70/30 split on the one proviso that he donate £1 million to the Ukraine relief fund along with 1% of his total winnings, dubbing Fury a “greedy belly” in a video message.
The 36-year-old also dispute Fury’s claims that his camp asked for a rematch clause, insisting that the suggestions came from the home team. Either way, it meant that the fight at Wembley on 29 April would have likely been the first in what would have gone on to be a trilogy fight.
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Nevertheless, despite being ‘agreed’ as early as December 2022, many feel the pair have played boxing fans, with the likes of Dana White criticising the fight and the sport in general, stating: “that is boxing… the big fights that should happen never happen and when they do it’s always [too] late”.
The proposed four-belt clash would see Usyk put all three of his his IBF, WBO and WBA titles on the line to try and claim Fury’s WBC belt to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time in the divsion since Lennox Lewis from 1999 to 2000.
Although the Fury vs Usyk will likely go ahead at some point, the entire situation does bear a striking resemblance to the Manc boxer’s previous fight palava with Anthony Joshua, where the deadline for the fight was delayed so long that not only did the interest expire but so did the window of opportunity.
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Here’s hoping they dont wait as long to sort this one out.
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
22nd March 2023 
