The pieces to put together the most awaited, but also one of the most complex boxing puzzles, have surfaced: the fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk is about to be finalized to give the Heavyweight division a one-and-onlyking.
Since boxing began the era of the four major championship belts, WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF, there has not been an Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion. A feat that, at the time and with only 3 belts, was achieved by Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis.
However, the title of Undisputed World Champion of the Queen Division, is a distinction enjoyed by boxing legends such as Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Sonny Liston and George Foreman. Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk are very close to entering the history books of the sport.
Fury to break his “retirement” from boxing because of Usyk
After defeating Anthony Joshua for the second time and retaining the WBA, WBO and IBF Heavyweight division belts, Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk is the perfect opponent for boxing to enjoy a mega unification fight with Britain’s Tyson Fury, who holds the WBC World Heavyweight title.
After defeating Dillian Whyte in April 2022, Tyson Fury announced his retirement from boxing. However, since then, despite reiterating his decision to step away from the ring, he has flirted with the possibility of returning. A fight against Usyk would be the ideal sporting and financial pretext for the Gypsy King to fight again.
Fury expressed through his social media his desire to fight Oleksandr Usyk through a statement very much in his style: “Send me in, I will relieve the Ukrainian dosser of his belts like I did the last Ukrainian dosser (Wladimir Klitschko), but it’s not going to be cheap“.
When and where could Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk fight?
According to reports from Talk Sport, the mega-fight that would deliver the world’s first Undisputed World Heavyweight Champion is already in negotiations. And the date and venue of the fight couldn’t be more iconic and exotic at the same time.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are scheduled to fight on December 17, one day before the final of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, in the Middle East. A venue that guarantees a millionaire payout to both fighters: “This is boxing’s World Cup, our blue riband event. We will make it happen but where it takes place will be determined by finance,” Frank Warren, one of Fury’s promoters, told Talk Sport.
Both Tyson Fury’s and Oleksandr Usyk’s last bags were in the millions. The current WBC champion took home $33.4 million, while the Ukrainian titlist earned an outrageous $75 million after defeating Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia.