Tyson Fury’s heavyweight unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk has been called off after the British boxer suffered a cut to his face in training.
The fight had been scheduled for February 17 in Saudi Arabia. A new date is likely to be announced for this summer.
The fight, which would have unified four heavyweight titles, had been described by Fury himself as a “fight for the ages”. Fury holds the WBC belt, which he won in 2020 when he beat Deontay Wilder. He has defended that belt three times, against Wilder, Dillian Whyte and most recently against Derek Chisora.
Usyk has held the WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight titles since beating Anthony Joshua in 2021. He had defended those titles twice since: against Joshua and then against Daniel Dubois.
Both Fury and Usyk are undefeated so far in their professional boxing careers.
The last time boxing had a unified and undisputed heavyweight champion was in 2000 when Lennox Lewis held all four titles. It seems now that fans will need to wait a bit longer yet.
The cut to Fury’s face was sustained during a sparring session in Riyadh and required stitches.
Fury said: “I am absolutely devastated after preparing for this fight for so long and being in such superb condition. I feel bad for everyone involved in this huge event and I will work diligently towards the rescheduled date once the eye has healed. I can only apologise to everyone affected, including my own team, Team Usky, the undercard fighters, partners, and fans as well as our hosts and my friends in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”
A spokesperson for Queensberry Promotions, who had been handling the fight said: “It is clearly a massive disappointment after the work that has been done by so many people to finally deliver this historic event to the world. Once the doctors have appraised Tyson’s eye we will have a better idea of the period of recovery needed. Once known, we will work diligently with all the stakeholders and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to reschedule this fight as soon as possible.”