By Eóin Kennedy: Is it going to be Fury-vs-Usyk? Or is it going to be Fury-vs-Joshua? Or is it going to be Joshua-vs-Wilder? Does anybody really care anymore? The never-ending speculation surrounding who’s going to fight who in boxing’s blue ribbon division is so beyond boring now it really is difficult to describe the whole saga.
WBC champion and consensus number one fighter in the division, Tyson Fury, has now written the PR playbook on how to turn a massive fan base against you.
The Gypsy King performed miracles by making it back into a boxing ring, to begin with, given the physical shape he was in, and that resurgence after suffering a mental health crisis and ballooning in weight endeared him to mainstream fans.
The boxing public adored him because of the manner in which he went to the United States and dethroned arguably the most feared puncher in heavyweight history, Deontay Wilder. After the climax of the incredible trilogy with Wilder, Fury took on mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte at Wembley Stadium in a fight that most fans thought could be a difficult assignment, but Fury won with ease.
Since that victory over Whyte, something strange has happened, “Brand Fury,” and, as a result, the momentum of the entire heavyweight division has suffered. Fury took it upon himself to announce his retirement after beating Whyte, and since then, it’s been a rollercoaster of announcements from the number one heavyweight in the world, whether he’s verbally abusing fellow fighters and giving them contract deadlines or announcing that he is fighting mixed martial arts champions instead, it’s never quiet but quite often dull.
He and Oleksandr Usyk had the chance to make history by fighting for the undisputed heavyweight world title, something that has never happened in boxing’s four-belt era but instead of making history, Fury and Usyk proceeded to engage in a verbal battle on social media, Fury doing most of the speaking.
The specifics of the accusations made by either side are now well documented and don’t need to be rehashed, but the fact that this colossal fight was there to be made and wasn’t is just further evidence in a never-ending list of evidence that boxing is a shambles of a sport.
Usyk will now face Fury’s Queensbury Promotions stablemate, Daniel Dubois, in a defense of his WBA, WBO, and IBF world titles in a fight reported to be landing in Poland in mid-August. Dubois is physically a very imposing man, but his skills and speed are quite a way off the standard of the Ukrainian champion, and while Dubois always has a puncher’s chance, he has already shown against Joe Joyce and Kevin Lerena that his own durability is up for debate.
Regardless of Dubois’ chance, this is not a fight that has boxing fans giddy with excitement, and when they look around the division, there’s not much else currently happening, other than the incessant speculation, of course.
The big hitters are not scheduled to fight. Former two-time world champion Anthony Joshua was expected to face old foe Dillian Whyte at the end of the summer, but apparently, Whyte has priced himself out. Joshua has a very short window for his late-August fight date, and given that fact, promoter Eddie Hearn has already conceded that it won’t be a big-name opponent.
Former Joshua conqueror, Andy Ruiz Jr, is a natural challenger to all of the stars in the division but it has been reported that similar to Whyte, Ruiz’ asking price was a little too rich for the promoters to open their wallets, with Tyson Fury’s team claiming the former world champion asked for twenty million dollars to fight.
The Bronze Bomber, Deontay Wilder, also has nothing scheduled, so it is becoming increasingly likely that some top heavyweights have decided to sit a season out, essentially, and wait for the obscenely massive Saudi payday that is rumored to be on offer for the top four fighters to compete in an end of year tournament.
There is no point pretending that fans are so soured with the division that they wouldn’t tune in should this heavyweight tournament transpires in the Middle East, that would be preposterous given the magnitude and quality of the event, but less speculation and mud-slinging from all involved would be welcome.
Anthony Joshua became a world champion just over seven years ago, and ever since that night when he defeated Charles Martin, the boxing world’s conversations have been dominated by rumors of if or when he is going to face Wilder or Fury. He still hasn’t fought either.
Since Usyk became the unified world champion, the conversation switched to whether he and Fury would fight. It hasn’t materialized. Fans still want the fights but are beyond exhausted by the speculation. Let us know when the fights are signed.