Fury v Usyk rescheduled for May in Saudi Arabia
BBC – Tyson Fury’s undisputed heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk has been rescheduled for 18 May.
Fury, 35, had been due to fight Ukraine’s Usyk on 17 February but withdrew from the contest on Friday after sustaining a cut in sparring.
The Briton is the WBC champion while Ukraine’s Usyk, 37, holds the WBA, WBO and IBF titles.
Their bout in Saudi Arabia will crown the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in the four-belt era.
Usyk wished Fury a speedy recovery and said he was “ready to fight for undisputed any time, anywhere”.
The Ukrainian had been in talks to fight Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic as a replacement for Fury on the February date.
Hrgovic is the mandatory challenger to Usyk’s IBF belt and there were fears he could be stripped of that title if Fury was sidelined for several months.
But in a fast-moving 24 hours, Saudi Arabian organisers and Team Fury moved quickly to secure a new date for the undisputed bout.
Speaking on the MMA Hour, external, Fury took aim at Usyk’s manager Egis Klimas who questioned the legitimacy of his injury.
“Egis, never call me a coward again,” he said. “[I have] never backed down from any man in my life.”
There has not been an undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999.
Fury’s cut above his right eye required “urgent medical attention” and “significant stitching”. It is the third time since 2023 a fight date between Usyk and Fury has been rescheduled.
Event organiser Turki Alalashikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s general entertainment authority, said if either Usyk or Fury withdrew from the new date they would forfeit £9.3m to the other fighter.