British heavyweight champion Tyson Fury faces Ukraine’s unified champion Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday, May 18. The pair battles it out for the undisputed title with four belts on the line. The highly anticipated clash airs live from Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
WBC titleholder Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) is coming off the win by split decision against Francis Ngannou in a non-title fight last October. “The Gypsy King” looks to defeat Ukraine’s unbeaten WBO, WBA and IBF champion Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) and become the first four-belt undisputed king at heavyweight. The Manchester star says he has two fights lined up against the native of Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine.
After that, the 35-year-old looks to square off against former unified champion Anthony Joshua (28-3, 25 KOs) in the all-British showdown. The latter is fresh off the win by knockout in the second round against Ngannou in March. Post-win, AJ also said he was looking to face the winner of Fury vs Usyk clash.
“For me the biggest night in history will always be, for me, when I climbed Everest against [Wladimir] Klitschko in Germany,” Tyson Fury said when asked whether his next fight was going to be the biggest in his career. “Nothing will ever top that. Yeah, no matter the money. For years. Nothing will ever, ever, ever, ever top climbing Everest against that undefeated monster no one could beat. No one give me a prayer in beating him.”
“I’ll fight this guy [Usyk], I’ve got a two-fight deal with him. So we’ll fight him in May and then I’ll fight him again when the Riyadh Season opens again. And then after that, next year, early next year I’d like to do a Joshua fight over there and maybe a rematch over in Wembley. I believe, it’s been a while since boxed at Wembley last time.
Among the bouts featured on Fury vs Usyk undercard, Joe Cordina of Wales defends his IBF super featherweight title against Anthony Cacace of Northern Ireland. As well, former world champions Jai Opetaia of Australia and Mairis Briedis of Latvia battle it out for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title.