Tyson Fury posting Instagram videos to find a fight is not exactly the behaviour of a man in control of his career right now.
With his long-awaited bout against Anthony Joshua stuck in the mud over a dispute about where it should be held, Fury took to social media on Monday to call out Oleksandr Usyk for a third fight. The response from Usyk's camp was short, pointed, and completely correct: no thank you.
Not a fallback option
Usyk's manager Sergey Lapin gave a statement to Sky Sports News on Monday evening that did not leave much room for interpretation. "Usyk is not Tyson's backup plan," he said, before directing Fury to a fighter-matching platform if he genuinely needs an opponent. The kicker was the last line: "Serious intentions are backed by a concrete offer, not statements in the press."
That is a grown-up response to a social media callout, and it lands because it is correct. Fury's Instagram video had the energy of a man trying to manufacture pressure rather than a genuine fight offer. Calling out someone publicly before picking up a phone is the kind of move that works on fans, not on the people actually running these negotiations.
And why would Usyk's side play along? Fury called for Usyk to prove himself by agreeing to a third fight, but Usyk beat him twice on points in 2024 to become undisputed heavyweight champion. He has nothing left to prove against Fury. Lapin's "backup plan" line said everything. Usyk is not sitting around waiting for Fury to sort his business out.
A fight that still hasn't been made
The Joshua situation tells you everything you need to know about where Fury actually stands. Both men have signed individual contracts for a November fight, but they cannot agree on a location. Joshua and his promoter Eddie Hearn want London. Fury says his opponent is avoiding the fight, a fight he described as one that has been more than a decade in the making.
It is a mess. And when negotiations stall like this, the temptation to create noise elsewhere is understandable, but it rarely helps. Fury calling out Usyk does not move the Joshua fight forward one inch. If anything, it gives Joshua's side more ammunition to claim that Fury is the one who is not fully committed.
For his part, Usyk has moved on from the belts he held. He vacated three heavyweight titles in June, said he was not retiring, and has been linked with a fight against Deontay Wilder. He also spent the last year working inside Joshua's training setup, which makes Fury's Instagram address to him feel even more theatrical. Usyk, who is unbeaten at 25-0, does not need this fight and his manager made that perfectly clear.
If you want a flavour of how genuine unification fights get made, [McKenna and Bentley's middleweight showdown](/uprise/boxing/mckenna-set-for-middleweight-unification-showdown-with-bentley) is a better example. Two sides, one goal, no Instagram drama.
Our take
Fury versus Joshua needs to happen, and it needs to stop being a social media argument. Until a venue is agreed and a contract is fully signed, every callout video is just noise. Usyk's camp called it correctly: put a concrete offer on the table or stop talking. Right now, Fury is doing neither.