Tyson Fury is wrong. He might say this is just another fight – he might need to treat it as such to make sure he wins it – but this is not just another fight. It’s the fight.
The one that boxing, the one that sport has been waiting for. That wait, finally, is over.
It’s the contest to deliver the heavyweight world champion, something boxing has been sorely missing for over two decades.
In the quarter of a century since Lennox Lewis was the division’s undisputed champion, there have been heavyweight titlists. Indeed, for many years two great heavyweights dominated the landscape, and they could not fight each other for very good reason – Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko were brothers.
In 2015 Tyson Fury began his first championship reign, upsetting Wladimir Klitschko in Dusselfdorf to win the unified WBO, WBA and IBF titles. Plagued by mental issues, Fury didn’t box again for more than two years after that.
Trending Fury vs Usyk: Ring walk timings, undercard, odds and more Fury shoves Usyk before expletive rant and weight blunder Fury vs Usyk expert predictions – who will be undisputed champ? Transfer Centre LIVE! New Everton deal for Coleman but Dele to leave Liverpool news: Claims Amorim move fell down over compensation PL Predictions: Still hope for Arsenal? West Ham to make Man City sweat Live on Sky: Bolton vs Oxford – League One play-off final Newcastle rumours: Toon pushing to sign Ramsdale from Arsenal Juventus sack Allegri after Coppa Italia final behaviour Southampton beat West Brom 3-1 to reach Wembley – highlights Watch Latest News While Deontay Wilder held the WBC belt, the others scattered. Anthony Joshua picked up those titles that Fury had once held.
But Wilder and Joshua never agreed to an undisputed fight. Then Fury crashed back into the upper echelons of the division. Shedding a massive amount of weight he took on Wilder. Fury was held to a dramatic but controversial draw when he challenged the WBC champion in 2018. He then crushed Wilder in their 2020 rematch.
Efforts to make an undisputed title fight between Fury and Joshua came to nothing after that when America’s Wilder forced his contractual rights to a third bout.
That final encounter was an epic, one of the most exciting heavyweight fights of all-time, with Fury rising from the canvas twice himself, dropping Wilder three times before spectacularly knocking out the American in their 11th round.
Meanwhile Usyk was completing his intricately planned advance to the top of the heavyweight division. The Ukrainian had become an undisputed champion at cruiserweight in magnificent fashion, beating Marco Huck, Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev all in their home countries.
He then outboxed Joshua to become a unified champion at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in London.
Usyk walked away from a lucrative rematch with Joshua when Russia invaded Ukraine at the start of 2022. He returned to his home country to enlist in the territorial defence force and take up arms. When he was permitted to return to boxing, he rose to the occasion with style and determination, handling a ferocious effort from Joshua to win clearly.
From the moment that Usyk had joined Fury as a heavyweight champion, matching the pair was the obvious fight to make. It is the two best and biggest men the sport has to offer battling it out for ultimate supremacy.
But it was not easy to get here and they still had wait even longer than intended.
Initial talks fell through acrimoniously last year and Fury and Usyk took interim fights. Usyk was uncomfortable against Daniel Dubois but stopped the Briton after recovering from a low blow (Dubois’ team still claims it should have been legal).
Fury almost had the shock of his career against former UFC champion Francis Ngannou, who stunningly dropped the Briton in the third round.
Fury steered himself to victory and, despite being primed to announce the undisputed clash, the bout to bring all four of the major titles together, for December, he needed more time to recover from that surprisingly tough bout with Ngannou.
