His Excellency Turki Alalshikh seems to be sending a clear message to Tyson Fury by implementing a penalty clause worth $10 million for any fighter who withdraws from his heavyweight showdown with Oleksandr Usyk on May 18th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
By having the 35-year-old Fury sit beside him during his speech about the $10M penalty, His Excellency Alalshikh appeared to be indicating to the aging heavyweight that he will not tolerate any further injuries.
It would have been more effective if Alalshikh had directly addressed Fury, pointing his finger at him, and cautioning him against getting hurt again. In the opinion of this writer, Fury needed a stern reprimand from His Excellency.
WBC heavyweight champion Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) withdrew from his scheduled undisputed championship fight against IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) on February 17th due to an eye injury, which the boxing community views with suspicion.
$10 Million Deterrence Clause
According to Gareth A. Davies in an interview with iFL TV, the $10 million forfeit penalty ensures that the fight will indeed take place on May 18th between heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk. This is great news.
Davies explains, “If both fighters are injured, they will find replacements. What His Excellency Turki Alalshikh is saying is, ‘We are committed to making events like this happen. We cannot allow one person to get injured a week before the fight.'”
Backup Plans
Gareth further states, “I see this as progress. There are aspects of boxing that we acknowledge need to change, and this paradigm shift is happening now. If Fury gets injured in sparring and his eye is opened, we will find another opponent.”
“They are considering Anthony Joshua as a potential replacement, which is exciting. Hrgovic is also being considered. People will have their own theories about this. Yes, the fight has been delayed multiple times for various reasons,” Gareth adds.
However, if Fury sustains another injury during training camp, it would not be wise to have Joshua as Usyk’s backup since Joshua has already been defeated by him twice without much difficulty. Fans do not want to witness a third one-sided match. Usyk needs a more suitable opponent, such as Zhilei Zhang.