Fury vs Usyk undisputed superfight now looking likely for February

Tyson Fury looks set to be granted two more months recovery following a nightmare showing against Francis Ngannou

The script was already written for a grandstand finish to the 2023 fight calendar, with the huge cross over fight between Tyson Fury and Francis Ngannou providing the perfect appetizer to the long-awaited undisputed title fight between the towering lineal and WBC champion Tyson Fury, and triple belt holder Oleksandr Usyk on December 23rd. However according to Mike Coppinger via ESPN, this plan has been altered.

Even with a few days to digest that wild night in Riyadh last Saturday night, October 28th, there is still an air of disbelief as to what we witnessed, with the former UFC heavyweight champion and boxing debutant Francis Ngannou giving ‘The Gypsy King’ one is his toughest ever nights. This wasn’t part of the plan.

One of the main questions after the fight was whether Fury would now be ready for the most important fight of his career, just eight weeks after this seismic event. Despite publicly stating before the bout that if Usyk could not be ready in time then ‘he's breached the contract and gets sued," the general feeling after the fight with Ngannou was that in true Fury style, he would likely contradict this statement and seek a longer recovery time and training camp himself.

It looks like Fury may have gotten his way, with strong rumours now circulating that the fight date with Usyk will now be pushed back into February.

This is probably for the best. Fury did not seem to pick up any significant physical injuries bar a badly bruised eye and graze on the forehead, but following a 12-week camp and a gruelling 10 round’s, it would be a bad idea to go straight back into another intensive training camp without sufficient recovery time. Even Usyk himself has publicly declared he traditionally prefers a 14-week camp, so the December 23rd date was hardly ideal for him either.

This is one of the biggest and best fights that we can possibly look forward to in the boxing calendar, even in spite of last Saturday’s disastrous showing by Fury. Upon conclusion of the Fury vs Usyk rivalry and with all four belts in possession of one man, we really don’t want to be looking back and asking ourselves if one or even both were not at their best. This is assuming that the best version of Tyson Fury is still in there somewhere.  

Fingers crossed this one finally gets formally announced for February and we can witness both fighters in peak condition put on an elite level technical battle, as if both are at their best this is a fight between two of the most, if not the most skillful fighters of the modern heavyweight era.  

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