Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk set for first quarter of 2023
Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk targeted to take place between February 18 and March 4, the Ukrainian’s manager Egis Klimas has revealed.
The undisputed heavyweight world title fight will see the Gypsy King unify his WBC crown with Usyk’s WBA, IBF and WBO champion, if it comes to fruition.
Fury beat Derek Chisora in their trilogy fight on December 3, stopping his old friend in the 10th round, making the overall score 3-0 to Tyson.
And now, all roads lead to Usyk, whose manager Klimas told iD Boxing: “Oleksandr said, ‘Let’s unify titles. Tyson, let’s fight.’
“Then Tyson came back and he wants to dictate. Tyson said, ‘Let’s fight at the end of the year.’
“And Oleksandr’s position was, ‘Look, I’ve been preparing for that fight with Joshua for a long time, I need to get recovery, I need to go back to my country. I can’t just jump from camp to camp.’
“In that case, let’s do that fight in February.
“Instead of waiting a couple of months, Tyson decided he wants to fight as a ‘keep busy’ fight.
“It’s fine, let him do it.
“On our side, everything is done. We agreed with the promoters, let’s put it together let’s move forwards.
“Right now it’s Tyson Fury’s decision.”
Klimas was then asked when the fight would be if Fury agrees a deal and replied: “No earlier than February 18, no later than March 4.”
This leaves three potential target dates – assuming the bout would take place on a Saturday as expected – of February 18, February 25 and March 4.
It’s expected that the showdown will happen in the Middle East if it gets finalised, most likely Saudi Arabia.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren told talkSPORT: “Both fighters absolutely want it.
“The managers and promoters all want it, so we’re just getting it together and working out where we’re gonna put it on – that’s really the situation.
“It’s gotta go on by March and so we’ve gotta all move quickly so over the next couple of weeks we will or we won’t get it sorted out.
“But everybody wants to do the fight, absolutely want to do it.”
