Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have agreed to fight in Saudi Arabia in the first bout this century to unify all of the major heavyweight boxing titles
ByThe Associated Press
September 29, 2023, 12:08 PM
FILE – Heavyweight boxers Britain’s Anthony Joshua, center right, and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, center left, face off during a weigh-in at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. Saudi Arabia’s most recent venture into the global sports scene — purchasing a stake in the Professional Fighters League — is yet another example of the oil-rich kingdom using athletics to increase its influence.(AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
The Associated Press
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have agreed to fight in Saudi Arabia in the first bout this century to unify all of the major heavyweight boxing titles.
Fury holds the WBC version of the heavyweight title and Usyk has the IBF, WBA and WBO belts. Fury’s British promoter Frank Warren announced the fight in a statement which did not give a date for the bout but said it will be held in the Saudi Arabian capital city of Riyadh.
Both fighters posted an image to social media Friday saying a deal for the fight between them was “SIGNED”.
“This is the biggest fight that could possibly be made in our sport. The heavyweights always spark the imagination of the fans, and I have no doubt this will be the biggest boxing event of the century,” Warren said in a statement.
The last fight to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion was in 1999, when Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield. Lewis had to relinquish his WBA title the following year in a dispute over his next title defense.
Usyk (21-0) is coming off a defense against Daniel Dubois in Poland last month. The Ukrainian has beaten British opponents in all of his last four fights, including when he won his heavyweight titles off Anthony Joshua in 2021 and defended them in a rematch in Saudi Arabia the following year.
Usyk was previously the undisputed champion at cruiserweight in 2018 and 2019, the first to achieve that distinction in more than a decade.
Earlier talks for a Fury-Usyk fight fell apart in March, with Warren blaming a disagreement over terms for a rematch. Usyk had accepted Fury’s demand for a 70-30 split of earnings in the British fighter’s favor but his promoter Alex Krassyuk accused Fury of putting further obstacles in the way of a deal.
Instead, Fury arranged to fight ex-UFC champion Francis Ngannou in a non-title match in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 28. For Fury (33-0-1), that will be his first bout since beating fellow British fighter Derek Chisora in December.
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