Ladies and gentlemen, we have a heavyweight fight.
Reports trickling out of Saudi Arabia over the last few days indicated that rival heavyweight title claimants Tyson Fury (WBC) and Oleksandr Usyk (IBF/WBA/WBO) will put their respective baubles on the line in a long-awaited unification on December 23 or early next year. Fury confirmed the fight on Instagram.
He has been in the kingdom prepping for a non-title “fight” against ex-UFC heavyweight kingpin Francis Ngannou that’s scheduled for October 28 in Riyadh. Usyk, meanwhile, is several weeks removed from his most recent title defense, a ninth-round TKO over Daniel Dubois in which he was dropped by a body shot ruled low by referee Luis Pabon.
The two have shared space atop the big-boy division for more than two years since the Ukrainian, a former undisputed champ at cruiserweight, climbed the ladder to defeat Anthony Joshua on Joshua’s home turf in England. He repeated the feat 11 months later in the Saudi city of Jeddah, about 600 miles southwest of Riyadh.
The prospect of the two champs meeting set the B/R combat team ablaze and prompted an early head-to-toe breakdown in which we looked at boxing ability, defense, punching power and X-factors. Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the comments.
What’s at Stake: Simply put, heavyweight domination.
Their achievements have put Fury and Usyk at the top of the sport’s traditional glamor division and the bout is even more riveting because neither has lost in a professional ring.
Fury toppled long-running champ Wladimir Klitschko in 2015 before a prolonged hiatus due to personal issues and then returned for an unlikely vanquishing of Deontay Wilder across three fights (two wins, one draw) from 2018 to 2021. He’s defended twice since completing the trilogy, beating Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora into submission in a combined 16 rounds.
As for Usyk, he completed his own four-belt dominance at cruiserweight in 2018 before rising to defeat Chazz Witherspoon (TKO 7) and Chisora (UD 12) to earn the Joshua title try.
He’s 5-0 with two KOs at heavyweight after 16 straight wins with 12 KOs before the jump.
The winner will become the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
