The highly anticipated fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk has been signed. The contest is set to take place at Kingdom Arena as part of Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia.
Fury of the UK is a reigning WBC king. Usyk of Ukraine is a unified WBA, WBO and IBF champion. The pair battles it out for the first undisputed heavyweight title in almost 24 years.
Lennox Lewis took it all in November 1999, when he scored a unanimous decision against Evander Holyfield in their immediate rematch, following their first bout in March that ended in a split draw. With the victory he unified the WBA, WBC and IBF titles.
The winner of Fury vs Usyk bout is set to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
Tyson Fury
Unbeaten Tyson Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs) was in action last December, when he TKO’d Derek Chisora in the 10th round of their rematch and retained his WBC belt. In April 2022, the 35-year-old native of Manchester stopped Dillian Whyte in Round 6.
In October 2021, Fury KO’d Deontay Wilder in the 11th round of their trilogy fight, after scoring the seventh-round TKO in their second clash in February 2020.
In November 2015, “The Gypsy King” became the lineal champion, when he earned a unanimous decision against Wladimir Klitschko and claimed his unified WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
In his next fight, prior to Oleksandr Usyk showdown, Fury goes up against former UFC heavyweight titleholder and lineal champion Francis Ngannou of Cameroon. The scheduled for 10 rounds bout is held on Saturday, October 28, also in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Oleksandr Usyk
Undefeated Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) last fought in August, when he knocked out Daniel Dubois in the ninth round and made the second successful defense of his belts. The 36-year-old of Simferopol, Ukraine claimed the unified titles by unanimous decision against Anthony Joshua in September 2021 and made his first successful defense by split decision in their rematch the following August.
In July 2018, Usyk became the first boxer to become the undisputed champion at cruiserweight, when he secured a unanimous decision against Murat Gassiev to retain his WBC and WBO belts and land the WBA and IBF titles. In November the same year, the Ukrainian southpaw knocked out Tony Bellew in the eighth round to successfully defend his title.
The exact Fury vs Usyk fight date is yet to be determined. As per Top Rank’s announcement: “Additional details, including the official fight date, will be announced in due course”.
According to ESPN, citing sources, “the fight could take place on December 23 or sometime in January”.
Ticket and broadcast information is also expected to be announced shortly.
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