Tyson Fury has issued a September 1 deadline for Oleksandr Usyk to organise a £500m unification bout or else the Briton will cancel his plans to come out of retirement.
In a social media post, the Morecambe-based heavyweight issued the ultimatum to the Ukrainian fighter, who once again beat Anthony Joshua on Satuday.
The much-anticipated unification bout would unite the division for the first time in almost 20 years.
Fury told his followers in a video posted on social media, “To all these suitors out there who want to make the fight,
I’m gonna give you all seven days – til September 1 – to come up with the money.
“If not, thank you very much it’s been a blast!”
Having dropped the dramatic ultimatum on his Instagram account, Fury has since appeared on talkSPORT spelling out his demands for a potential fight.
The 34-year-old said, “Everyone keeps asking me about this Ukrainian guy. Are you going to fight, are you going to do this, are you going to do that?”
“I’ve made it very clear I’m retired from boxing and I’m very happy doing that. However, I will come back but it has to be for an obscene amount of money. Because let’s face it, it’s not Anthony Joshua which I would have done for free, it’s some foreigner who no one really cares about, and that’s it.”
“I don’t mind chucking a dog a bone, but I don’t want to chuck him the full f*cking dogs home.”
“If they want me to fight this unknown quantity and give him the opportunity of legendary status in trying to beat me then they have got to pay for it.
“If they want the big Gypsy King to fight, then they have to pay an obscene amount of money. For the biggest fight in the world, it needs to be the biggest pay packet in the world. However, Mayweather got 400m for Pacquiao. I want 500m for Usyk. They’ve got the money.”
With both fighters heavily interested in the fight, the deadline should not prove to be too much of an issue for the 35-year-old Ukrainian, who has already made his intentions clear.