29 October 2023 , 01:17
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Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will meet in Saudi Arabia for the undisputed heavyweight title, but the touted date at the end of the year is now in serious doubt.
The first undisputed fight of the four-belt era was due to take place two days before Christmas and see the division finally unified. But Francis Ngannou flipped the script as he dropped Fury and took him to a razor-close split decision, which included a cut that could see him take time off to recover.
The fight was signed last month but was dependent on Fury not losing to Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia last night - or suffering a freak injury. In the end, the Brit sneaked through by one point on one scorecard to ensure he and Usyk can finally lock horns, whether it be December 23 or a later date.
The rivals were close to fighting at Wembley six months ago but talks broke down, leaving Usyk to defend his three belts against Daniel Dubois while Fury opted to fight former UFC champion Ngannou. Usyk stopped Dubois in Poland in August to retain his titles, leaving him a nervous two-month wait.
"Listen, it's been going on a long time," Fury told TNT Sport immediately after the pair faced off in the ring following his victory. "We were supposed to fight in April at Wembley, it never happened, let's do the fight over here. His Excellency Turki Al-Sheikh is going to put the fight on for all the belts; the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. Let's go my brother."
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Usyk kept his response short but sweet, telling his rival "Let's go," before adding "I'm going to be fighting him amazing." The Ukrainian seemed keen on the December 23 date, but Fury was not so sure, saying: "It's not up to me, I'm a fighter, he's a fighter, I'm sure we'd go now.
"Listen, if these guys will sort it all out and it will be on then it will be our next fight guaranteed." Usyk simply responded with the French for "Yes. We want this fight, it's a big fight - the whole world wants this fight." Frank Warren then added: "I don't think the date will be announced yet.
"The fight is wanted, it's done, the fight is on, these guys both won and it's just a matter of now setting a date. Tyson's got a cut there so it's no good saying a date whilst he's got a cut on the top of his head we've got to see how that heals. But this fight is on, it's the biggest fight in boxing. Everybody wants to see it and they're going to see it here in Saudi in Riyadh season where it's going to break all Box Office records. This is the biggest fight out there."