Tyson Fury was scheduled to fight Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship on Dec. 23, but that match has now been delayed by two months after the former fighter suffered two cuts and struggled to put away ex-UFC champion Frances Ngannou last Saturday, according to ESPN’s Mike Coppinger.
Fury won via split decision over Ngannou, who was making his professional boxing debut. However, numerous fans and analysts believe Ngannou won the fight.
As Coppinger noted, Usyk and Fury were initially supposed to fight last April before talks fell through. Now the fight will be delayed until February, but their contract includes a two-way rematch clause, so a second bout between the two appears very likely.
Fury, 35, is 34-0-1 lifetime with 24 knockouts. Only two of his fights have gone to split decisions, with the other one being a draw against Deontay Wilder in Dec. 2018. He later beat Wilder for the WBC heavyweight title in Feb. 2020, retained it against him in Oct. 2021 and defeated Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora in ensuing belt defenses.
Usyk, 36, is 21-0 lifetime with 14 knockouts. He currently holds the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles. He earned the former four belts after taking down Anthony Joshua via unanimous decision in Sept. 2021 before defending those titles (and adding The Ring championship in a split decision win over Joshua 11 months later.
Usyk’s last time in the ring occurred in August, when he beat Daniel Dubois via ninth-round KO.
