Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will finally meet in their undisputed heavyweight title showdown on 17 February in Saudi Arabia.
WBC champion Fury and Usyk, who holds the IBF, WBO and WBA titles, will collide to unify the four major belts and crown the first sole champion of boxing’s blue riband division since Lennox Lewis.
The historic fight was officially announced at a press conference in London on Thursday after months of negotiations between both parties.
Fury vs Usyk had been scheduled to take place on 23 December after contracts were signed in September ahead of ‘The Gypsy King’s non-title fight against Francis Ngannou.
Fury was left battered and bruised from his narrow decision win over the former UFC champion however with his meeting with Usyk moved to early 2024 as a result.
Saudi boxing officials changed their plans for that December date but the show will go on with Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder featuring on a star-studded card in Riyhad instead.
Joshua will take on Otto Wallin with Wilder in action against Joseph Parker with hope victories will pave the way for the long-awaited meeting between the two rivals.
Fury and Usyk have been on collision course for almost a year, coming face-to-face in London last December following the Briton’s victory over Derek Chisora with hope their historic fight would be agreed for the first half of 2023.
An April date at Wembley Stadium looked set only for talks to fall through in spectacular fashion after the two camps were unable to agree final terms.
Usyk, who took the world titles from Anthony Joshua with a masterful performance in 2021, went onto defend his belts against Daniel Dubois in Poland in August.
The undefeated Ukrainian, a former undisputed champion at cruiserweight, will be competing in his fifth consecutive heavyweight fight against English opposition.
Fury, also undefeated, attracted criticism for his lacklustre display against Ngannou despite doing enough to win the fight on the judges’ scorecards.
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