Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury, the four-belt fight that will leave a single undisputed champion in the heavyweight kingdom

“This city isn’t big enough for both of us.”

The phrase, first used in 1932 in The Western Codelater became a classic of the westerns. Nine decades later and more than 12,000 kilometers from Carabinas, the town in which the film directed by John P. McCarthy, the British Tyson Fury and the ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk will settle this Saturday in the torrid Riad who will be the only man left standing in the universe of heavyweights: They will face each other to establish the first undisputed champion of the top division in the four-belt era. The contest will begin around 7 p.m. in Argentina and can only be seen through the platform DAZN.

He Kingdom Arenaa modern stadium that finished construction last October and that has capacity for 30,000 spectators for this type of event, will be the property in which Usykchampion of the World Boxing Association (With the International Boxing Federation (FIB) and the World Boxing Organization (OMB), y Furymonarch of World Boxing Council (CMB), will star in a contest that the glove world has been awaiting for a year and a half, and which encountered countless obstacles before coming to fruition.

Since December 2022, after knocking out the Zimbabwean Derek Chisora in London, Fury challenged Usyk face to face and with a string of insults that can only come from his big mouththe promoters, the managers and the lawyers of both worked overtime, with advances, paralysis and setbacks in the negotiations, until everyone could shake hands.

The first date agreed for the fight was April 29, 2023 and the headquarters, Wembley. But bitter discussions about the purse that each contestant would receive, about the inclusion or not of a mandatory rematch clause in the contract and, finally, about the venue and the distribution of money in the event of a possible revenge caused the agreement to founder and led both to seek other horizons: Usyk faced and knocked out the Englishman Daniel Dubois in Wrocław (Poland) in August of that year and Fury agreed to a clash with Francis Ngannouformer mixed martial arts heavyweight champion recognized for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

The bridges between the negotiators were never broken and at the end of September the unification suit for the December 23 in Riyadh, as reported by Queensberry Promotions, Top Rank, K2 and Usyk17 Promotions, the four promotional companies involved in organizing the event together with the Saudi General Entertainment Authority. But Fury exhibited a very weak image against Ngannou in a fight to which he arrived in suboptimal physical condition, in which he was knocked down in the third round by the Cameroonian rookie and who ended up winning on points in a close split decision. That cast a shadow of doubt on the British’s next commitment.

“We have a contract that says the fight has to take place on December 23, no matter what,” Usyk urged. Then it became clear who was holding the handle of the frying pan tighter. “We will not fight on that date,” he warned. Frank Warrenthe promoter of Gypsy King. “Fury won’t be ready for that date because it was a tough fight (against Ngannou) and he will need time to heal his body and then get into camp. He would only have five or six weeks, so it won’t happen,” he justified. So it was.

The contest was rescheduled for February 17thbut 15 days before a new postponement was announced, this time as a result of a cut on the right eyelid of the Manchester-born boxer during a sparring session. The location of that cut was very close to that of a chilling injury that he had suffered in September 2019 in a lawsuit before the Swede Otto Wallin in Las Vegas and that he had sued 47 stitches.

Three months later and now (almost) without risk of suspension, the two undefeated will collide in a fight in which there is no clear favorite (the betting houses have echoed this like few other times) and that, no matter what, Come on, promise a second chapter: Turki Alalshikhpresident of the General Entertainment Authority of Saudi Arabia, announced that the rematch is scheduled for October 12 or 13 again in Riyadh.

Furywho has a record of 34 wins (24 by fast track) and one draw, will have significant tonnage advantages (at Friday’s weigh-in he registered 118,850 kilos against 101,380), height (2.06 meters against 1.91) and range (2.15 meters versus 1.98). From this, from his power, from his very good mobility, despite your size, and from the range of tricks he will try to take advantage of to extend his second reign, which began in February 2020, when he knocked out the American Deontay Wilder In Las Vegas.

For Usykwho reigns since he dethroned the English Anthony Joshua in September 2021 in London, The disadvantage of weight and size will not be a decisive factor. “To win, I don’t need to be heavy, I need to be fast. “You never see a fat wolf in the forest,” compared the 2012 London Olympic champion and former undisputed cruiserweight champion, who He was victorious in his 21 fights won (14 he won before the limit). To secure his 22nd victory, the Simferopol-born left-hander will surely draw on his speed, strategic intelligence and his refined technique, forged in years of super-competitive amateurism.

After a complicated preview and Fury’s father attacking an Usyk assistant at the Hilton Hotel in the Saudi capital on Monday, the foam subsided in the last few hours. In fact, in the last press conference, which was held on Thursday at Boulevard City, an 89-hectare commercial and recreational center, The two contenders were extremely economical and measured in their wordssomething common in Ukrainian, but very rare in British.

“I want to thank God for the victory I have already received, everyone involved in organizing this event and Usyk for coming forward and challenging me. I have nothing more to say other than that I am ready for a good fight,” said the very moderate Fury. “I am happy to be here, excited and grateful to His Excellency (Turki Alalshikh) for making this fight possible. Let’s make history. Enough. Thank you very much,” added Usyk. And nothing more. The rest will be seen in the ring.

Unless a tie prevents it,The four heavyweight belts of the main bodies that manage boxing in the world will spend Saturday night in a man’s room: the winner of the fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. It will be the first time that this will happen, although not the first time that the premier class has an undisputed champion.

Until the early 1960s, no one who had a basic knowledge of boxing had any doubt as to who the heavyweight champion was, since there was only one world-renowned champion in each division, which was then eight. Since the consecration of the American John Lawrence Sullivanconsidered the first heavyweight champion of modern boxing, men of the caliber of James Corbett, Jack Johnson, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Rocky Marciano y Floyd Patterson.

In February 1963 the first great schism occurred in the administration of this sport, with the birth of World Boxing Council to compete with the World Boxing Association. Although first Sonny Liston and then Muhammad Ali They were champions recognized by both organizations simultaneously, in 1964 the WBA stripped the Louisville star when he agreed to a rematch with Liston that was pre-established in the contract that had been signed before the first clash between them, something that the organization prohibited, and ordered a fight between Ernie Terrell y Eddie Make for the vacant crown (which Terrell won).

Ali two more times, Joe Frazier, George Foreman y Leon Spinks They were undisputed champions during the years in which the WBA and the WBC coexisted. In November 1983, the International Boxing Federation, a purely American entity (in fact, its first name was the United States International Boxing Association), and the panorama expanded. Without the need to hold any combat, the IBF designated as its first heavyweight monarch Larry Holmeswho renounced his WBC crown to do so.

The first champion with three belts was Mike Tyson: He reunited them on August 1, 1987, after beating Tony Tucker, and defended them six times, with the same number of categorical definitions, before falling to James Buster Douglas in Tokyo on February 11, 1990. Then there was already the World Boxing Organizationwhich had been created in October 1988 and had consecrated its first heavy king on May 6, 1989, when the Italian Francesco Damiani he had knocked out the South African Johnny Du Plooy in Syracuse.

It took more than three decades for the organization based in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to begin to gain a foothold in the great concert of governing organizations. That is why in recent weeks it has been said, not without reason, that The last undisputed heavyweight champion was, at the end of the 20th century, the British Lennox Lewissimultaneous owner of the WBA, WBC and IBF belts, but not the WBO.

On November 13, 1999, eight months after the first confrontation between the two, which had ended in a draw, Lewis, who was WBC champion, defeated by unanimous decision points. Holyfield, monarch of the WBA and the IBF, at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. In those days, the WBO champion was the then little-known Vitali Klitschkowho had won the title four months earlier against the British Herbie Hide.

In April 2000, Lewis was stripped of his WBA title for refusing to fight American John Ruiz.number one in its ranking. Since then, the heavyweight has never had a champion who held all the most recognized titles.. Not by chance, the Englishman and Holyfield, the protagonists of the last fight that established an undisputed monarch, are currently in Riyadh to witness the duel between Usyk and Fury.