Updated:
Feb 2, 2023
The undisputed heavyweight title fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is targeted for April 29th, according to ESPN correspondent, Mike Coppinger.
Usyk has reportedly signed his side of the deal for the contest to take place in Saudi Arabia and now it is Fury’s decision whether to accept a bout against the undefeated Ukrainian in the Middle East or instead, opt for the fight to happen at Wembley Stadium, London.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are widely regarded as the two best heavyweights in the world. ‘The Gypsy King’ became the man to end Wladimir Klitschko’s 9-year reign back in 2015 when he captured a 12-round unanimous decision and the IBO, IBF, WBA (Super), and WBO Heavyweight Championships in Dusseldorf.
And in more recent years, Fury defeated Deontay Wilder on two occasions to add the WBC belt to his collection, knocked out Dillian Whyte in front of a record-breaking 94,000 fans at Wembley Stadium, and claimed a 10th-round stoppage victory in a trilogy bout against Dereck Chisora last December 3rd.
Meanwhile, Usyk is an esteemed amateur who picked up a gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games before becoming the first undisputed cruiserweight champion since David Haye and famously outboxing Anthony Joshua twice to gain hold of the IBO, IBF, WBO, and WBA (Super) Heavyweight Championships. Furthermore, Usyk is currently ranked as the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet by Ring Magazine.
Apart from the prospect of watching two elite fighters share the ring, Tyson Fury and Usyk have the chance to make history. The last undisputed heavyweight champion was the legendary Lennox Lewis back in the early 2000s. In addition, there has never been a recognised undisputed heavyweight in the four-belt era.
Besides, at the ages of 34 and 36 respectively, both Fury and Usyk are in the latter stages of their career, and holding all the belts at heavyweight is the only missing piece on their outstanding resumes.
Tyson Fury On His Social Media Exchanges With Usyk
Unlike the majority of Tyson Fury’s previous opponents, Usyk has been playing mind games of his own in an attempt to gain a psychological advantage over ‘The Gypsy King’. The Ukrainian has referred to Fury as ‘belly’ numerous times in his social media posts whereas the Brit is constantly dismissing his future opponent as a ‘middleweight’ or ‘rabbit’.
“Well, you know what big bellies do to rabbits don’t you? They eat them and everything else that goes along” said Fury in a recent interview with BT Sport Boxing.
Fury admits becoming undisputed would be a massive achievement for his legacy, but is still unsure if the bout will come to fruition.
“I’m looking forward to the challenge. If it’s going to be a big challenge I welcome it. But it’s being more of a challenge of getting the fight made so we’ll see what comes in the next month or so, a few weeks.
“If it happens it will be like a monumental marker. Like fight of the century and if you’re interested in legacies and all that sort of stuff. This would be the real thing for it because it’s the first four-belt champion in history at heavyweight. So, yeah, pretty good.”
Worryingly, Tyson Fury also mentioned the possibility of facing former UFC Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou who has recently left MMA and is set to compete in professional boxing. However, ‘The Gypsy King’ doubts how serious Ngannou is about making the fight happen.
“I have, but again I just feel like these people are just saying they want to fight me to get themselves in the papers and there’s no substance behind it. Because if there is, come over, tell us how much money you want, let’s get a deal done, and let’s fight.”
Hopefully, though, Fury does everything he can to make the fight with Usyk so the boxing world can find out who is the best heavyweight of this generation.
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