Fury and Usyk will fight in February for the undisputed heavyweight crown
The two undefeated champions will finally meet in Saudi Arabia after long negotiations that didn’t translate into a deal until now.
Almost nobody expected it to happen after unsuccessful endless negotiations, but one of the most anticipated fights in recent years will finally take place.
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will meet on February 17th in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in a fight where both men will try to become the undisputed heavyweight king. The Gipsy King (33-0-1, 24 KOs) holds the WBC belt, while the Ukrainian (21-0, 14 KOs) is the IBF/WBA/WBO champion.
It hasn’t been revealed yet who will be fighting on the undercard, but the card will probably be stacked like the December 23rd event in Riyadh.
Usyk had been insisting on fighting Fury for a long time, since he defeated Anthony Joshua for a second time, but the Brit wanted more money to get into the ring with The Cat. Usyk was finally obliged to face Daniel Dubois, defeating him via TKO in the ninth round in Poland last August.
Why won’t the Fury-Usyk showdown happen in December?
In a golden year for boxing, where fans have been able to enjoy some of the best action from the very best boxers in the world, a fight between Fury and Usyk to finish 2023 in style would have been the cream of the crop.
However, when both fighters seemed to agree on both sides’ terms and conditions, there was an unexpected factor that obliged the matchmakers to postpone the event.
There had been previous talks about the bout happening on December 23rd, but it was rescheduled to February after Fury’s poor performance against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, who was about to pull off one of the biggest upsets in combat sports history.
The Gipsy King didn’t look good against Ngannou, and he even went to the canvas against a mixed martial artist who was making his boxing debut.