Why was the Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk fight in February postponed?

The bout of the decade, named by the media and boxing fans, between titleholders Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, was first set for February 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but was postponed after Fury sustained a severe cut over his right eye during a sparring session.

The “Ring of Fire” fight to determine the undisputed heavyweight champion was delayed due to Tyson Fury’s injury. WBC champion Fury was set to face WBO, WBA, and IBF titlist Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, February 17, 2024. Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) sustained a significant cut in the exact location as a previous injury during his unanimous decision victory over Otto Wallin in September 2019. Still, he had no significant issues in his subsequent five fights. Fury, 35, is coming off the worst performance of his career, a split-decision victory over MMA star Francis Ngannou on October 28. The former UFC fighter, Ngannou, was making his professional boxing debut in that encounter. The fight with Usyk was Fury’s opportunity to prove his poor performance was a fluke and to confirm his legacy by becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis.

Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) has made a strong case that he’s the best heavyweight after defeating former champ Anthony Joshua twice, in 2021 and 2022. He last fought on August 26, when he recovered from a knockdown to stop Daniel Dubois in nine rounds. There were discussions about whether Usyk, training in Murcia, Spain, could still fight on February 17 against one of the mandatory challengers, Croatian Flip Hrgovic. However, his team decided to forgo this option because Usyk missed the birth of his child while training in Spain and needed to return to Ukraine to be with his family before resuming training for the rescheduled fight.