Tyson Fury has been one of the most prominent names in boxing for years, and it’s because he’s been dominant in the heavyweight division. On February 17th, the world will get to see him step into the ring again, this time against Oleksandr Usyk. The two will square off to see who will become the undisputed heavyweight champion, and it will take place in Saudi Arabia.
Tyson Fury Has Had A Historic Career
For those that might not know, Fury was the heavyweight champion many years ago. He had to surrender the belts that he earned due to issues that were outside of boxing. He had to endure mental health issues on top of drug and alcohol abuse. Since then, he’s been able to bounce back. We watched him take down Deontay Wilder in 2020 to once again become the heavyweight champion, and it’s something he doesn’t plan on relinquishing for a second time, no matter the matchup. Fury also recently retired in 2022 before deciding that he wasn’t done with the sport and returning to beat Derek Chisora.
Fury took the time to call out a number of potential competitors after defeating Chisora. Among the guys called out were Usyk and Anthony Joshua. Fast forward a few months, and Fury had a fight set up with an MMA champion in Francisc Ngannou. He was dropped in one of those rounds, though he emerged victorious at the end of the day, which forced some to believe he didn’t deserve the victory. However, he suffered enough damage to delay the fight between himself and Usyk until February, after it was originally scheduled to take place in December.
Oleksandr Usyk Is No Slouch In The Ring
Flipping over to Usyk now, he first got into the professional boxing scene in 2013. He was able to win the WBO cruiserweight title in 2016 and has continued to dominate ever since. He won multiple tough fights in the World Boxing Super Series tournament to win the WBA, Ring, and IBF championships. It wasn’t until 2019 that Usyk decided that he was going to move up to the heavyweight division. When he did, it didn’t take long to get a win notched. He beat Anthony Joshua in 2019 thanks to a unanimous decision and in 2021 he became the WBA, IBA, and WBO heavyweight champion.
The latest we’ve seen of Usyk saw him compete against Daniel Dubois back in August of 2023. He was able to get a win (though it was controversial) to hold onto all of the belts he had earned. Now, fans have been clamoring to see Usyk face off with Fury, but it all kept getting pushed back further and further. It does appear that there’s a path in the next few weeks where these two great boxers square off against one another. It’s going to be a tough journey, but on February 17th we are going to see who will be named the undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis got a win over Evander Holyfield in 1999.
