Fury vs. Oleksandr pushed back to 2024

In an unsurprising move, the highly-anticipated clash between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight title has been rescheduled from December to February 2024, according to a report from ESPN. While a specific date in February wasn’t mentioned in the report, the fight is expected to take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where it was originally scheduled to take place in. 

The initial plans for Fury vs. Usyk were announced before Tyson Fury’s recent non-title bout against Francis Ngannou, which turned out to be a tougher challenge than expected. Ngannou pushed Fury to a split decision and inflicted two cuts on the WBC heavyweight champion. This challenging bout led to the decision to postpone the Fury vs. Usyk fight from its originally scheduled date in December.

Fury, who holds the WBC heavyweight title, fought former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou on Saturday, October 28. The match ended in his favour by a split decision, but the consensus of the majority of boxing fans tagged Ngannou as the winner. The Gypsy King’s most recent WBC title defense was in December 2022, when he defeated Derek Chisora in the 10th round. 

Oleksandr Usyk’s latest fight was in August, where he defended his WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO titles with a knockout win over Daniel Dubois. Before that, Usyk secured two decision victories against English star Anthony Joshua. The rescheduled Fury vs. Usyk fight will determine the undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time in decades. 

News of the postponement does not come as a shock to any boxing fan. In the past few years now, we’ve come to the brink of having an undisputed match, only for it to be pushed back for one reason or the other. There is no doubt that more than a few boxing fans do not believe an undisputed fight will be held any time soon.

Leon Osamor