It has been an eventful week or so in the heavyweight boxing world with more claims and counter-claims from fighters and promoters than you can shake a stick at.
Eddie Hearn has accused Tyson Fury of ‘bottling’ a fight with Oleksandr Usyk, while Fury and his promoter, Frank Warren, have simply laughed in Hearn’s face at the suggestion.
With the distraction of all this he-said she-said, we can be lulled into thinking something bad has happened in boxing.
Yes, we have had our long-awaited unification fight in the heavyweight division delayed but this is going to be an incredibly exciting 12 months for boxing fans.
With the deal collapsing for Anthony Joshua to step aside and allow Fury and Usyk to fight in a unification bout, another layer of intrigue has been added into this division with three fascinating fights now on the cards.
Let’s start with Fury facing Dillian Whyte in the spring – this is not a fight to be ignored. Whyte is a man from the streets of Jamaica who is a true fighter in life and in the ring.
He will not let himself be outboxed by Fury as Joshua did with Usyk the first time around. Whyte will make his fight with Fury a brawl.
Whenever one fighter is openly ready to do this then you don’t want to miss a second of it.
Fury is one of the most gifted heavyweights of all time, but he knows that Whyte is no easy fight. It is a match-up littered with danger for him with the complexity that he needs to get rid of Whyte to have his ultimate unification with Usyk or Joshua.
There are several people questioning whether this fight can justify the world record purse bid from Warren but I still think that this is a very interesting match-up.
Usyk v Joshua II is truly a make-or-break fight for AJ – he must win this fight to be considered a serious contender in the heavyweight division again.
When a fighter is backed into a corner like that then you are never quite sure what you are going to get. One thing is for certain though – Joshua will not allow Usyk to dance around and outbox him again.
If Whyte is going to bring a brawl to Fury, then that is nothing compared to what Joshua will bring to Usyk.
By far the bigger and more powerful man, Joshua will have to impose himself immediately on Usyk in this second fight to stand a chance. As with Fury vs Whyte, we will not be able to take our eyes off this fight.
And finally, once these two fights are done, we will be left with an incredible unification bout for the heavyweight division and whoever it is between, it will include a British fighter. The fact is that a match-up between any two of these four fighters will be a phenomenal spectacle.
Boxing fans, strap yourself in for a brilliant year ahead.
