By Jake Tiernan: The fabulously wealthy Tyson Fury says he’s fighting now not for legacy but to “feed” his family. Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) confesses that he’s boxing for the sake of “money” now, and he’s doing quite well, sitting on a $65 million fortune and about to get a treasure chest full of dough to fight non-boxer Francis Ngannou this Saturday night on ESPN+ in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Talk about your easy money.
With Fury’s bank account already stuffed full of sweet cash, he’s got more than enough to feed his family for many lifetimes, but what the heck. If boxing fans are willing to pay to watch him destroy novice Ngannou on PPV, why wouldn’t Fury take the easy money?
Saturday’s Fury-Ngannou fight costs $79.99 on ESPN+ PPV for U.S. boxing fans. The co-feature fight is a British affair between fringe-level heavyweights Fabio Wardley vs. David Adeleye.
Obviously, this contest is unlikely to attract a lot of attention from American fans, who prefer seeing fighters that are destined to win world titles when paying & arm a leg for PPV. Wardley-Adeleye will be more of an annoying distraction before the meat & potatoes fight between Fury & Ngannou.
So if they’re going to order this event on ESPN+ PPV, it’ll have to be for the main event because the undercard is staffed by middle-of-the-road fighters, none of which are heading towards world title honors.
“We’re in it for making money. That’s what the game is: prizefighting, making a few quid, and enjoying it with your family,” said Tyson Fury to iFL TV about his rationale for fighting.
“People can talk all the bulls**t, saying ‘It’s about legacy, I want all the belts,’ but all that ain’t going to feed your family,” said Fury, who has a net worth of $65 million.
It’s been obvious for a while now that Fury is just in it for the money, as he’s been taking exclusively soft opposition since last year with his two fights against British journeymen Dereck Chisora & Dillian Whyte, and now this, fighting the novice, Francis Ngannou.
If there was any doubt that Fury is only in it for money, he made it clear to those slow on the update what his main focus is.
Fury-Usyk: Fight of the century?
“If you take the hardest fights possible, you want the largest amount of money you can get. There was no back-and-forth with this one. This last one was done instantly,” said Fury about his negotiations with Oleksandr Usyk for their December undisputed heavyweight championship.
“It [negotiations with Usyk] was really easy. Once you realize your position and realize where you really are, ‘I better take the chance here while I can before it floats away,’” said Fury.
In other words, Usyk understood that Fury was the only game in town for him to make big money, even if it meant accepting a deal he wasn’t necessarily happy with.
Given the easy money Fury is making in Saudi Arabia, he didn’t need the Usyk fight and would walked away in a second if he didn’t agree to the deal offered to him.
In a perfect world, Usyk will trounce Fury and knock him off his high horse to humble him because his ego has gotten out of control since his three fights with Deontay Wilder, two of which he should have lost by knockout.
In hindsight, it would have been better for the boxing world if the referees had gotten it right by giving Deontay knockout victories in the first & third fights with Fury. Those appeared to be clear KO wins for Wilder.
“I almost didn’t give him the opportunity because if I had retired, he’d have never gotten any big money. He’d have never gotten the chance,” said Fury.
“Let’s face it, this fight [against Usyk] is bigger than belts. This is the fight of the century, barring none. It’s bigger than all of the belts combined, everything,” said Fury.
Tyson has got to be kidding here when he refers to his December bout with Usyk as “Fight of the Century” because it’s not expected to be an entertaining one to watch.
The build-up will be decent, but the actual fight will likely involve much moving on Usyk’s part and mauling on Fury’s side. Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier, this ain’t.
