Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk megafight faces key issue hours after being signed
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are finally set to do battle in a heavyweight title unification fight at the end of the year but one major obstacle has already emerged.
Unbeaten WBC heavyweight champion Fury, 34, and unbeaten WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight top dog Usyk, 36, will do battle to close out Riyadh Season in Saudi Arabia just weeks after his crossover fight with former UFC heavyweight champ Francis Ngannou, which is scheduled for Oct. 28.
Dec. 23 is the rumoured date for the heavyweight unification fight but that would see a clash with the Battle of the Brits: Chris Eubank Jr. vs. Conor Benn. The two were scheduled to fight last October, only for the fight to be canned due to two positive drug tests from Benn. An appeal in Benn's UKAD case is still ongoing, but they are now expected to fight abroad.
All eyes are likely to be on Fury vs. Usyk and it's unknown whether the bout will force a change in the boxing calendar, with the Saudi spectacle certain to take the top slot.
"Delighted to finally get this fight signed," Fury's UK promoter Frank Warren said. "This is the biggest fight that could possibly be made in our sport. The heavyweights always spark the imagination of the fans, and I have no doubt this will be the biggest boxing event of the century. I look forward to Tyson reclaiming the three belts that he never lost in the ring. Huge thanks to His Excellency and the GEA.”
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Promoters K2, Top Rank, and Queensberry announced pen had been put to paper on the fight that will see an undisputed champion be crowned for the first time in the four-belt era. "I do what I say, I say what I do," Fury said on Instagram. "UNDISPUTED. THIS IS THE GYPSY KING ERA! You can't run rabbit run anymore, Oleksandr Usyk - you're getting it. Riyadh Season, thank you to the Kingdom! #FuryUsyk."
Fury and Usyk were previously in talks over a 2023 fight earlier this year but conversations stalled and the bout collapsed. Usyk’s agent Egis Klimas insisted Fury kept making more demands which made reaching a compromise impossible at the time.
Chris Eubank Jr and Conor Benn are set to fight on Dec. 23 (Getty)Usyk has received early backing from Hasim Rahman, a former world champion, who shocked the world in 2001 when stopping Lennox Lewis. "Fury’s size would be an advantage with most heavyweights who just stand in front of you and Fury could lean on and grab, but Usyk is not that type of fighter,” said Rahman to FightHype.
“He’s not going to allow him to just use his weight, and his size, in fact, he’s going to use his weight and size against him. Usyk will make him exhausted and probably knock him out.”
Usyk has also already stepped inside the squared circle this year whereas Fury was last in action against Derek Chisora in December 2022. The Ukrainian defeated Daniel Dubois in a heavyweight title fight last month.
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