A historic fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion since 1999 next month.
The rival stars have finally agreed to meet in the ring after months of boxing’s dream matchup looking like it might never happen.
All the heavyweight belts will be on the line when Usyk and Fury clashCredit: Top Rank
WBC champion Fury will look to wrestle the WBA, WBO, and IBF titles away from Usyk to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since British compatriot Lennox Lewis over two decades ago.
After months of failed negotiations between the camps earlier this year, Usyk instead beat Daniel Dubois while Fury opted for a crossover bout against Francis Ngannou.
That looked to be the final nail in the coffin for the pair facing off but, much to the delight of boxing fans around the world, Fury and Usyk will now look to top the 1974 Rumble in the Jungle as boxing’s biggest-ever event.
Ahead of their ‘Ring of Fire’ clash, Usyk watched Fury get knocked down by Ngannou before taking a controversial split decision win over the MMA star.
They then met in the ring to confirm they will fight each other next but the Gypsy King’s camp forced organisers to push the bout back from December 23.
A new date was then confirmed and the rivals will finally meet this February.
Fury vs Usyk: Date and start time
This 12-round undisputed heavyweight title clash will take place on Saturday, February 17.
The huge bout will be held at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Start times and additional details are expected to be announced in due course.
The event will be broadcast live on TNT Sports Box Office – the new name for BT Sport – but pricing is yet to be revealed.
Fury spent the majority of the press conference insulting his opponentCredit: Top Rank
Fury had to be kept apart from Usyk after clashing heads with the UkrainianCredit: AFPFury vs Usyk: Undercard
More to follow…
- MAIN EVENT: Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk – for WBC, WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles
- Joe Cordina vs Anthony Cacace – for IBF and IBO super-featherweight titles
- Moses Itauma vs TBA
- Sergey Kovalev vs Robin Sirwan Safar
- Bakhodir Jalolov vs TBA
- Isaac Lowe vs Hasibullah Ahmadi
- David Nyika vs TBA
Fury vs Usyk: What has been said?
At the press conference, Fury launched into an astonishing rant aimed at his opponent.
He said: “I already relieved one Ukrainian [Wladimir Klitschko] of all the belts, and I’m going to relieve that idiot of the belts that I gave him! Including my Ring magazine that I vacated last year so I could win it back three times, sausage!
“You’re fighting the best British heavyweight there’s ever been, the f****** dauntless in these waters, me.
“You beat all the rest of them, but you ain’t beat Tyson Fury yet, sausage. Look at him, his heart’s pounding now, he’s like a little p****y with an earring in, s*******!
“His b******* have shrivelled up now they have, little sausage, a sissy with an earring in, you f****** p***y! Getting knocked spark out!”
5Fury tore into Usyk, who simply watched on
Ricky Hatton has told talkSPORT that he believes Fury may benefit from his lacklustre performance against Ngannou when he fights Usyk.
Hatton told talkSPORT Breakfast: “I think Tyson will certainly be a lot better than he was last time.
“And he’ll certainly have to be, he doesn’t need me to tell him that, but I think he will be.
“The last fight, I think he simply just took the fella – even though he was a monster of a man – I think he took him little bit lightly.
5Fury struggled against Ngannou’s power but landed enough jabs to claim a win and set up this undisputed fightCredit: Getty
“I think he could’ve come in in a little bit better shape than what he did do.
“I went to Saudi Arabia for the fight and it was such an occasion – I think Tyson forgot what he was there for!
“He forgot what he was there to do! It was such an occasion and he was fighting this UFC fighter who’s not had a boxing match before in his life and I think he just took it all a little bit lightly.”
“It’s probably not such a bad thing,” he continued, “It’s probably what you want before you go fighting Oleksandr Usyk because he’ll know, ‘I’ve gotta pull my socks up, I can’t be performing like that again.’
“So it probably wasn’t such a bad thing, but yeah we thought we’d lost it when Tyson was struggling.
“A lot of people thought he might have lost the fight or thought, ‘There’s that Usyk fight gone.’
“But he got the decision, which I thought he just did, he won it by the narrowest of margins, just because he was a little bit busier.
“But he’ll be up for this Usyk fight, and he’ll need to be, because only Tyson Fury’s best will beat this fella.”
