Oleksandr Usyk names his date as he waits on Tyson Fury heavyweight showdown
Oleksandr Usyk has claimed that he’s aiming to battle Tyson Fury in February 2024 to compete for the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world. Last month, each boxers agreed a deal to battle in late December however have but to formally announce a date with Fury’s bout in opposition to former UFC champion Francis Ngannou taking precedence.
Contracts between the pair have been signed when the fight was first announced. The bout would see the heavyweight belts from all 4 of boxing’s main sanctioning our bodies up for grabs – WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.
Fury is the present WBC heavyweight champion, whereas Usyk holds the IBF, WBO and WBA Super World Heavyweight championships.
The Ukrainian boxer has already checked right into a coaching camp in Valencia, Spain, forward of the competition which he hopes is just a matter of months away.
“It could be February and I would very much like it to be February,” he stated to The Guardian. “I was ready to fight on [December] 23rd but since Fury got some injuries in the last fight, a knockdown, then probably it will be postponed to next year.”
“I’ll just do more technical work. Technically, nothing changes,” he added. “I just have a little more time for some additional tasks, and that’s it.
“I don’t think about Tyson Fury at all… I think about myself, about my team, about my family. I don’t need to think about my opponent. I just need to be with him, fight and that’s it.”
The battle can be Usyk’s first since defeating Daniel Dubois to defend his unified heavyweight titles. The 36-year-old maintained his undefeated document of 21 fights with a ninth-round stoppage win in opposition to the Brit again in August.
Fury’s final bout noticed him compete outdoors the standard boxing route when he confronted former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou. The pair fought in an exhibition bout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which noticed Fury declare the win by way of a controversial cut up determination.
Despite the bout not counting in direction of one another’s data, Fury stays undefeated with a document of 34 skilled fights and one draw – in opposition to Deontay Wilder.
Usyk was in attendance to observe Fury battle Ngannou the place he confronted off in opposition to The Gypsy King within the ring after the ultimate bell. The pair traded verbal blows in a tense staredown which is predicted to be their final assembly earlier than the media rounds forward of the undisputed battle.
The battle can be the primary undisputed heavyweight conflict since Lennox Lewis in 1999. Lewis fought Evander Holyfield twice – drawing as soon as and profitable the opposite – to retain his WBC title, take Holyfield’s WBA and IBF titles and declare the vacant IBO title.