Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will fight one another in Saudi Arabia tonight, bidding to crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years.
Not since Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in 1999 has there even been a fight for all the division’s major gold, and one year after that bout, Lewis lost his undisputed status. But tonight, Fury’s WBC title and Usyk’s WBA, WBO and IBF belts are on the line in Riyadh - as well as each man’s unbeaten record.
Briton Fury, 35, last fought in October, surviving a shock knockdown by Francis Ngannou to win a hotly-disputed decision against the ex-UFC champion. Ukraine’s Usyk, 36, last boxed in August, fighting through a controversial low blow to stop Daniel Dubois.
Southpaw Usyk is an Olympic gold medalist and previously reigned as the first (and so far only) undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era, and tonight he will bid to replicate that feat at heavyweight. Fury, meanwhile, is out to win back the unified titles that he once took from Wladimir Klitschko.
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