Staff Reporter
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s teams have regularly been in talks over the past year to organize an undisputed heavyweight title fight.
Talks originally broken down in March, for a fight that would have taken place as early as April. But now the hugely anticipated bout has been set in stone. Fury and Usyk will settle their tensions in the ring on either December 23 or the opening days of the new year.
Fury holds the WBC title and Usyk holds the remaining four titles – the Ukrainian certainly has much more at stake, but both are committed to putting their legacies on the line in a winner-takes-all contest.
Both fighters are unbeaten throughout their lengthy careers so far, with Fury having 33 wins to his name and Usyk having triumphed on 21 occasions. The two opponents are huge knockout threats having both caused stoppages in over 65% of their ring appearances.
Both have utilized exhibitions to maintain sharpness
Training is one aspect of preparation, but both the elite boxers have entered into exhibitions while they waited for the highly demanded fight to be confirmed.
Fury will face UFC legend Francis Ngannou to warm up for the prospect of Usyk. In Tyson Fury v Francis Ngannou betting, the former is a huge 1/12 favorite, and while his belt is technically on the line, realistically his champion status should not be threatened in October.
where will you be when history is made? @francis_ngannou
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the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.@Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/5xp49izekc— TYSON FURY (@Tyson_Fury) August 18, 2023
Usyk meanwhile faced arguably a much tougher opponent back in August in Englishman Daniel Dubois. The Ukrainian was certainly under threat at times but eventually secured a brutal knockout victory in the latter stages of the fight.
Both fighters may have risked their belts prior to facing each other, but realistically the only true danger to their champion statuses is one another.
Fury and Usyk have dominated all of the opponents that they have faced in professional boxing. They should be extremely evenly matched when they enter the ring at the end of this year. The winner could perhaps be down to who has made the greatest preparation and warm-up fights certainly go a long way towards that.
Fury should have the edge against Usyk
While Usyk has been vocal in the past about how strongly he wanted to secure a fight against Fury, the latter will surely have the edge in the contest.
Fury’s remarkable 6’9 frame allows him to control the space between him and his opponents excellently. He is exceptionally hard to hit and as shown by his first fight against Deontay Wilder in 2019, he does not tend to stay down from significant strikes either.
Fury’s main strength is his unpredictability and flexibility in his fighting style. He can opt for a reserved points-scoring approach as long as it keeps his opponent at bay. But if needs be he can often deliver finishing blows on demand. He simply does not have a weakness, regardless of how his fights go, Fury simply always has an answer.
Soon #RiyadhSeason
Ready to Fight! pic.twitter.com/HFNs2KrN6D
— Oleksandr Usyk (@usykaa) September 29, 2023
Usyk will most likely need to deliver a knockout blow himself if he is to defeat Fury – he has to surprise the Gypsy King and leave him with no opportunity to respond. Unfortunately for the Ukrainian, he is facing the one heavyweight that can survive after the cruelest of strikes from the heaviest hitters in the sport.
Fury vs. Usyk could turn out to be the biggest fight of the century, and the winner could earn themselves a massive claim at being boxing’s greatest heavyweight of all time. The Gypsy King’s domination could well continue, but if anyone can finally stop him, it is the Ukrainian quadruple world champion.
