Tyson Fury will fight Oleksandr Usyk to unify boxing’s heavyweight division.
A deal has been agreed for the champions to put their belts on the line with reports suggesting the fight will take place in late December of this year, or early January 2024.
The contest is also likely to take place in Saudi Arabia, the host of several huge boxing events in recent years including Fury’s upcoming match-up with UFC icon Francis Ngannou.
Talks have been held on a number of occasions to pair up the world’s top heavyweight fighters, who are also seen by many as the best pound-for-pound boxers of the current era.
The One! #FuryUsyk is signed, Undisputed
— Queensberry Promotions (@Queensberry) September 29, 2023
Coming soon to #RiyadhSeason #BigTime pic.twitter.com/rjK2Du2sK5
Nobody has unified the heavyweight divsion since Lennox Lewis in the late 1990s, in a generation where only three belts were required for the honour. Nowadays, the WBA, IBF, WBO and WBC titles are all required with Fury holding the latter and Usyk the other three.
Fury had appeared to play down the chance of an agreement in a chat with TNT Sports, released earlier this week. He declared: “The fans want it and if the money's there we'll do it.
“Why on in the world would I want to fight [Usyk] for no money, he's got zero personality, he's an ugly b******d with gappy teeth and he's half the size of me, so it's all to gain for him and nothing to gain for me, isn't it?”
There had been talk of Anthony Joshua fighting Deontay Wilder on the undercard of Fury vs Usyk, in what would be perhaps the most star-studded heavyweight fight night of all time.
However, talks for a January fight in Saudi have collapsed due to issues with holding the venue.
Promoter Eddie Hearn told iFL TV: “We'd agreed, Wilder had agreed, now we're talking to other sites about that fight in February or March and that's still the plan, very much the plan.”
