Tyson Fury's heavyweight unification title fight against Oleksandr Usyk has collapsed and the Ukrainian is now set to face Britain's Daniel Dubois.
Boxing fans had been hoping the mouthwatering showdown would be announced soon following months of talks since unbeaten WBA, IBF and WBO champion Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) defeated Anthony Joshua in their rematch back in August.
Wembley was the preferred venue on April 29 after initial plans to hold it in Saudi Arabia fell through but the subsequent drop in expected revenue and a dispute over purse splits have become a major stumbling block.
Usyk’s promoter Alex Krassyuk wanted a 50/50 split but then claimed WBC champion Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) rejected an amended 60/30 to the winner deal.
Publicly Fury had also demanded Usyk agree to a 70/30 split, which the Ukrainian did agree to as long as Fury consented to make a sizeable donation to the Ukrainian relief effort.
But now Krassyuk has confirmed to Sky Sports that discussions have failed to reach a conclusion.
Usyk will now look to make a defence of his heavyweight titles against Dubois, who is the WBA mandatory challenger.
Due to the nature of the sanctioning bodies’ rotation system, Dubois would get the first opportunity ahead of IBF mandatory Filip Hrgovic and WBO mandatory Joe Joyce Joyce but this order could change if he's ruled out due to the injury he suffered in his last fight.
Krassyuk said last month: “If a Fury fight doesn’t happen, which it’s not really likely to happen, I think Usyk will have to fight the mandatory. This [Dubois] is actually the next step for Usyk, we have to comply with it.
“It’s not the worst fight for the UK. Dubois is English, Usyk fought a couple of times here so he’s probably a bit known in the UK.
“And this is a fight where an Englishman is fighting for three belts at heavyweight. It’s a bit more than just a normal heavyweight fight.
“It’s still huge. Dubois went through some hell in his last fight, so probably he’s recovered, we expect that he did, but we have to see the medicals. It’s something to be disclosed within the next couple of days. We’re still expecting the official decision from Fury.
“Once we know from Fury officially that the fight is off, then we start working on the mandatory. There might be an option to swap with the IBF or WBO, probably the IBF, but it’s still to be under discussion.”
