Tyson Fury could finally be set to go head-to-head with Oleksandr Usyk next year after the Ukrainian’s manager Egis Klimas said that “everything is done from our side.” Fury announced his retirement from boxing in April after getting the better of Dillian Whyte at Wembley but has since lined-up a showdown with Derek Chisora, which is set to take place in December.
Usyk defeated Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia in August to retain the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts, four months after Fury had knocked out Whyte to keep the WBC belt. And Usyk was expected to subsequently take on Fury before the Gypsy King arranged a trilogy fight with Chisora. But a bout between Usyk and Fury now looks closer than ever.
“Everything is done from our side,” Klimas told Seconds Out on Friday. “Everything. So it’s only one guy who can say, ‘yes, we’re going.’ That’s Fury.”
Usyk reigned as the only undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era before becoming a heavyweight fighter. And Klimas has admitted a showdown with Fury will be tough for his boxer. “Size difference of course, it’s not in Usyk’s favour,” Klimas continued. “[Fury] is a giant. Also, he’s a good fighter. He’s a talented fighter first of all. Second, he has a good boxing IQ. So he is a very, very dangerous fighter.”
Usyk proved just how good he is in the heavyweight division after overcoming Joshua twice. And earlier this week, the 35-year-old admitted he was desperate to take on Fury. “Right now my team is seeking conversations with Tyson Fury and he is really an unpredictable person so we can’t guarantee when,” the boxer said at the Web Summit in Lisbon.
“For me, the idea would be to fight maybe early February or beginning of March, like March 4, because I am an orthodox Christian. During the great fasting before Easter I do not fight, so it should be all before or then after orthodox Easter (April 16). I want to fight with Fury because I need the fourth belt and I don’t want to fight with anyone else until I have the fourth belt.”