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It is official: Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will square off in the heavyweight division. With the WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF championship belts up for grabs, the bout is scheduled for February 17 in Saudi Arabia.
Both Fury(34-0-1, 24KOs) from England and Usyk(21-0, 14KOs) a 36-year old Ukrainian boxer are undefeated. Fury last competed in August, winning a split-second decision over former mixed martial artist Francis Ngannou, while Usyk triumphed against Daniel Dubois.
“I’m about as excited as I was last week, last month and three months ago or six months ago when I knew the fight was happening,” said Fury in media reports.
It has taken some time for the fight to develop. The initial proposal was for December 23, and it was decided upon in September. But after Fury defeated Francis Ngannou in a split decision, it was postponed. After the battle in Saudi Arabia, Fury and Usyk squared up in the ring, and they will do it once more when they face off in February.
“My fight with Fury was finally made with very few people involved,” said Usyk in media reports.
“He called his manager and invited me and my children to visit him. I think we came to an agreement because very few people were involved. People who didn’t need to be involved in the negotiations were excluded and this led to the signing of the contract,” he added.
Usyk said that he would not use Fury’s performance against Ngannou as a base for criticism.
“No, I am a man, I don’t work like that. Tyson Fury is closer to me than Ngannou. Ngannou is a nice guy and I respect him. I just can’t use dirty tricks. I have children and my sons watch me, many people watch and follow me,” said Usyk.
“First of all – you need to become a good and well-behaved person. From there, you can achieve everything else,” he added.
Fury hadn’t been in the ring since facing Derek Chisora in a trilogy rematch in December of last year, prior to the bout in Ngannou.
In August, Usyk fought mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in Poland, winning a contentious fight by stoppage in the ninth round.
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