FURY FIGHT IN SAUDI ARABIA ENOUGH TO MAKE USYK NOW
IN the highly unlikely event anyone needed a laughable reminder that ANYTHING Tyson Fury says should be treated with a pinch of salt, it has unfolded over the last few days.
Here’s a sample of what Fury – doing the rounds to promote his gimmick with mixed martial arts practitioner Francis Ngannou – has been saying about Oleksandr Usyk recently.
“I am not interested in fighting Usyk. He’s a little Ukrainian dosser. That’s all he is to me. No interest in unifying the division. It doesn’t mean s*** to me.”
And then, there was this.
“Why would I want to fight him for no money? He’s got zero personality, he’s an ugly b ****** with gappy teeth and he’s half the size of me.”
But, on Friday afternoon, Fury took to social media to post news that a contract for a fight between himself and Usyk had been signed.
Don’t bank on it, but it seems there is a good chance that the WBC heavyweight champion, Fury, will meet the holder of the IBF, WBA and WBO belts, Usyk. And first things first, this is the fight the heavyweight division so badly needs. What should be a compelling division has become a joke division. Unless the Fury-usyk showdown takes place on December 23, one of the suggested dates, 2023 will have been pretty much a write-off. The circus tent exhibition with Ngannou (right) would be Fury’s only ‘fight’ of the year, Usyk has made a solitary defence against Daniel Dubois, and Deontay Wilder has also not been seen in the ring while Anthony
Joshua has fought twice. Fury against Usyk is the event heavyweight boxing needs desperately.
But what a shame for the sport that, should it indeed take place, it will be staged in Saudi Arabia. In all honesty, it was never going to be anywhere else.
Boxing promoters this side of the Atlantic have long since thrown themselves headfirst into the vat of Saudi money.
Promoters from the Fury and Usyk camps posted obsequious messages of thanks to Saudi facilitators. Fury himself said: “Thank you to the Kingdom (of Saudi Arabia).”
Such is boxing’s longestablished and pre-eminent role in the sportswashing project, very few people raise any sort of objection to its alliance with the Saudi regime.
Amnesty International UK does, the organisation’s Felix
Jakens saying: “Both Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk should understand how this fight will be used by the Saudi authorities to project a glitzy image of the country a world away from the dark reality of being jailed for voicing your opinion, of widespread torture, unfair trials and mass executions.” And he is absolutely right – not that his words will make a smidgeon of difference.
But it is vital these voices still make themselves heard.
Yes, the prospect of the world heavyweight title being unified for the first time since Lennox Lewis did it in 1999 is an appealing one.
Yes, this is a contest that the sport of boxing has needed for a very long time. Yes, it will draw millions of eyes.
And yes, Fury versus Usyk could be a classic. But it is the right fight... in the wrong place.
‘‘ Fury versus Usyk could be a classic – it is the right fight... but in the wrong place