Tyson Fury-Oleksandr Usyk title bout set for Feb. 17،
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship on February 17 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, organizers announced Thursday.
Fury-Usyk was scheduled for Dec. 23 before Fury fought a tougher-than-expected bout with former UFC champion Francis Ngannou on Saturday in Riyadh. Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) suffered cuts to his forehead and left eye en route to a split decision victory over Ngannou, who was making his professional boxing debut.
Fury, 35, was even knocked out in the third round, the seventh knockdown of his illustrious career.
Fury and Usyk signed contracts for their long-awaited battle for heavyweight supremacy weeks before “The Gyspy King” stepped through the ropes to fight Ngannou in a 10-round non-title bout.
After the decision was announced, Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) entered the ring to face Fury and set up their showdown.
“On December 23, I’m ready to fight,” said Usyk, who entered the ring after the decision was made. “Let’s go now if you want,” said Fury, the WBC heavyweight champion. “…He’s a smaller man than Francis, I always said Francis was a much more dangerous fight than Oleksandr.
The day before the fight, Usyk posted on Instagram: “Francis, be careful with Tyson, I need him in the ring on December 23.” But Usyk was forced to wait two more months to finally get his hands on Fury.
Fury and Usyk were close to reaching a deal to meet last April at London’s Wembley Stadium before talks collapsed at the 11th hour.
Usyk, 36, is an Olympic gold medalist and former undisputed cruiserweight champion. The Ukrainian holds the WBA, WBO and IBF titles, belts he won against Anthony Joshua in 2021. Usyk retained the titles in the rematch with another decision over Joshua last summer in Saudi Arabia.
Now that the Fury fight will take place in 2024, this guarantees that Usyk will go another year with just one fight. The last time Usyk fought multiple times in one year: 2018, when he competed three times.
He last fought in August, when he scored a ninth-round knockout over Daniel Dubois in Poland. Usyk is ESPN’s No. 2 and No. 3 pound-for-pound heavyweight boxer. Fury entered the fight ranked No. 1 at heavyweight and No. 6 pound-for-pound. The Englishman Fury fought twice last year, both victories by TKO in football stadiums in London (in April against Dilian Whyte and in December against Derek Chisora).
This is Fury’s second reign. He beat another Ukrainian, Wladimir Klitschko, in 2015 for three heavyweight titles by surprise decision. Fury never defended these titles and remained out of the ring for two and a half years due to depression and drug addiction. He weighed over 400 pounds during this time.
After Fury returned from that hiatus, he established himself as one of boxing’s biggest stars with a classic heavyweight title trilogy with Deontay Wilder, whom he stopped twice after a draw during the first meeting. Fury’s third fight with Wilder was the 2021 Fight of the Year and ESPN’s Knockout of the Year.
The Fury-Usyk deal contains a two-way rematch clause, virtually guaranteeing two straight fights between the two for tens of millions of dollars.
Information from Reuters contributed to this report
