Done deal: Fury, Usyk sign for undisputed heavyweight title fight
A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.
The undisputed heavyweight championship fight is signed.
Lineal/WBC champion Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, who holds the WBO, IBF and WBA titles, have signed to meet for all the hardware in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on a date to be announced, Fury promoters Top Rank and Queensberry and Usyk promoter K2 announced on Friday.
“The biggest fight in world boxing will take place at the Kingdom Arena as part of this Riyadh Season and will be presented to fans around the world by The General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia,” according to the news release.
The date has not been set yet but the fight will take place during the Riyadh Season cultural festival, which opens Oct. 28 with Fury’s fight against MMA star Francis Ngannou, who is crossing over to boxing, and ends in early 2024, meaning a short turnaround time for Fury.
“Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are the two greatest heavyweights of their generation, and I can’t wait to see what happens when they step into the ring in Riyadh,” Top Rank chairman Bob Arum said. “They are special talents worthy of competing for the greatest prize in sports. I would like to thank His Excellency Turki Alalshikh and everyone involved in helping make this legendary night a reality.”
I’m in Las Vegas covering Canelo-Charlo this week. Upgrade to a paid subscription and make sure you don’t miss any posts. You’ll also have full access to the archive, comments and you will help support independent journalism
The winner of the fight will become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era. There has not been an undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis outpointed Evander Holyfield to unify the WBC, WBA and IBF belts in their rematch on Nov. 13, 1999 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“This is the fight that everyone has wanted to see for some time and now it is finally happening — the world's two heavyweight champions going into the ring against one another,” said Alalshikh, the chairman of the General Entertainment Authority and head of Riyadh Season. “It is the biggest fight in boxing, the world will be watching, and we are so proud to be the hosts for this spectacle as part of the fourth edition of our Riyadh Season celebrations. We want to play our part and match the huge anticipation surrounding this fight by putting on the greatest fight experience for every visitor to Riyadh.”
The fight initially was ticketed for this past April 29 at Wembley Stadium in London but the deal fell apart when the sides could not agree to the terms of a rematch clause. It is unclear if there is a rematch clause in place for the upcoming bout.
The fight was made even though Usyk has a due mandatory defense against IBF No. 1 contender Filip Hrgovic. Multiple sources told Fight Freaks Unite that the IBF agreed to sanction the bout but with the stipulation that the winner must face Hrgovic next or be stripped of the belt — even if it turns out that there is a Fury-Usyk contractual rematch clause. So, Hrgovic (16-0, 13 KOs), 31, of Croatia, would either get a shot at the winner or face the next available IBF contender for the vacant title if it comes to that.
Although Fury has often belittled Usyk, claimed not have interest in the fight and said he did not care about a chance to become undisputed, his manager, Spencer Brown, took a different tone in making the announcement.
“I’m delighted Tyson has the chance to become the first undisputed world heavyweight champion of the four-belt era and prove he is one of the greats of all time,” Brown said. “First, though, Tyson will have the chance to prove he is the baddest man on the planet on October 28th.”
Fury (33-0-1, 24 KOs), 34, of England, will not have his WBC title at stake against Ngannou. His last official title defense was a 10th-round knockout of good pal Derek Chisora in their third fight on Dec. 3 in London.
Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), 36, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion and a 2012 Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist, is 5-0 since moving up to heavyweight. When the April date with Fury fell apart, Usyk moved on to a WBA mandatory defense against Daniel Dubois, whom he knocked out in the ninth round of a one-sided fight on Aug. 26 in Wroclaw, Poland. All along, Usyk has wanted to fight for the undisputed title. His stated goal when he came into the pro ranks was to become undisputed at cruiserweight and heavyweight to follow in the footsteps of his boxing hero Holyfield, who is the only one to accomplish that feat.
“I can’t believe that it’s happening but it is,” said Usyk promoter Alex Krassyk of K2. “Difficult to express my admiration for being part of the biggest heavyweight fight of the century. Respect to Tyson for his courage.”
The Fury and Usyk camps were in conversations to do the fight but they really picked up after Usyk’s win over Dubois, sources said. There were meetings in London between the promoters and Saudi Arabian officials as they worked behind the scenes to hammer out the deal with Fury refraining from his usual constant updates on social media.
A note to subscribers
I sincerely appreciate your readership. If you’re reading, it means you love boxing just like I do. If you’ve been reading you also know the quality and quantity of what I produce. It’s one-stop shopping. Read the newsletters and there is no need to search multiple websites or click a multitude of links to get the latest news, opinion and detailed fight schedule. Everything you need is in one spot and delivered directly to your inbox (or via phone alert if you download for free the superb Substack app). You don’t have to hunt for the news; it comes to you.
I believe that is worth something, so while I will continue providing stories, notes and the schedule for free, I encourage you to upgrade to a paid subscription for the most content. A paid subscription is your way of keeping this reader-supported newsletter going and supporting independent journalism. I am beholden to no network, promoter, manager, sanctioning body or fighter. If you have read my work at all during the past 23 years I’ve covered professional boxing you know that I keep it real and that will not change.
To upgrade your subscription please go here:
Thank you so much for your support of Fight Freaks Unite!
Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danrafael1/
Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/DanRafael1
Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DanRafaelBoxing
I won't believe it until the ring walks happen but if this fight comes through (and in Dec) what a hell of a year for fights. The fighter of the year award is gonna be super hard to pick.
After a year of whining from many fans who laughably said Fury was ducking Usyk because he was scared of him, which is just so staggeringly stupid so expect a 100 degree turn on their claims and their next claim will be that Fury's just too big and its not fair on Usyk, Its strange i get things wrong and pick the wrong winner from time to time like everyone else but i knew for sure that this fight would happen because it made no sense for it not to happen.