The potential bout would crown the four-belt era’s first ever undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion
Usyk defended his world titles in Saudi Arabia. © Francois Nel / Getty Images
The promoter of boxing icon Tyson Fury, Frank Warren, has indicated that a heavyweight championship unification superfight against WBA, IBF, and WBO ruler Aleksandr Usyk “will be made.”
Ukrainian great Usyk retained the belts he won from Anthony Joshua last September by beating the Brit again by a split decision in the Saudi city of Jeddah at the weekend.
Along with keeping hold of his titles, Usyk also claimed ‘The Ring’ magazine heavyweight title which Fury relinquished after supposedly retiring almost a fortnight ago.
Now the only piece of the puzzle remaining for Usyk to become the four-belt era’s first-ever undisputed heavyweight champion is Fury’s WBC strap, and comments made by the ‘Gypsy King’ on Instagram showed that he is willing to get his gloves on again.
“Get your f*cking chequebook out,” Fury demanded after watching the weekend’s main event, while also bragging he would “annihilate” both Usyk and Joshua.
THE GYPSY KING IS HERE TO STAY!!!@WBCBoxing@frankwarren_tvpic.twitter.com/DaDCfbQvPI
— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) August 20, 2022
According to Fury’s UK promoter Warren, though, who spoke on BBC Radio 5 Live on Monday, Fury should have a chance to put his money where his mouth is in the near future.
“He and Usyk would be a really good fight. It’s a fight that I think will be made because both teams would like to see that happen,” Warren noted.
“Usyk said after the fight that it’s the only fight he’s interested in and it’s certainly the same case with Tyson.
“It’s just a matter of where it will generate the most income because it’s a unique fight, a historic fight,” he added, with venues such as Saudi Arabia and Wembley Stadium in London – where Fury made his last outing in April when knocking out Dillian Whyte – likely to be the strongest candidates.
As for the date, the same weekend as the football World Cup final, on December 18, has been earmarked.
“It’s the first time for God knows how long that the four belts are on the line. Both fighters are undefeated. The whole world of boxing will be captivated by this fight,” Warren suggested.
Though Usyk derailed initial plans for a Best of British box office smash by soundly outboxing Joshua in September 2021, Warren is also not ruling out the two countrymen meeting one day providing Joshua can return to winning ways.
“If AJ manages to get a couple of wins under his belt, and I believe Tyson will beat Usyk, that may be a fight to be made,” he said, adding that Joshua’s “got to re-establish himself before you can even think about fights like that”.
Now boasting a 24-3 record, Joshua made a fool of himself on Saturday with a post-fight meltdown.
This saw him throw two of Usyk’s belts out of the ring and storm off only to return to the squared circle to go on a long, uninvited rant, and he also clashed with a referee backstage and then burst into tears at a press conference.
Addressing the controversy on Sunday night for which he was widely-criticized, Joshua confessed on social media that he had “let myself down”.
“I wish Usyk continued success in your quest for greatness. You are a class act champ,” Joshua posted on Instagram while tagging his two-time dancing partner.
“Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts! I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.
“I’ll be the first to admit, I let myself down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion and when not controlled it ain’t great. I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on,” Joshua vowed.
