By: Sean Crose
“We sent them a draft contract, that’s where we are,” talkSports quotes Tyson Fury promoter Frank Warren as saying. “Listen, now it has to be done very, very quickly because time is against us.” Warren is referring to the negation process between Team Fury and Team Oleksandr Usyk. A fight between two heavyweights will most likely result in the eventual undisputed heavyweight champion of the world. However, this being contemporary boxing, such super fights are not easy to do. “It was previously mentioned that March 4 was the desired date for the war,” wrote talkSport.
March is important for promoters as it will allow Fury to rematch in the fall. Warren stated: “I want the fight to be in March and so does Tyson. “We just want to start in March and that will help them prepare for another big fight in the fall.” As for where the first match could be held, Warren simply said: “Wherever there is the most money. “Nothing in place from anywhere outside the UK.” With that said, Warren has made it clear that UK fans could be disappointed if the match ends somewhere else.
“I know a lot of people complain about it and I agree it should be at Wembley, I’d love to see it there,” he said. “But Muhammad Ali and George Foreman fought in Zaire, then you have Thrilla in Manilla, you’ve got big fights in Jamaica. Warren highlights the fact that some boxing legends aren’t afraid to travel. “They went where the money was,” he added, “and these people will do the same thing.”
In what could prove to be very good news for those hoping for an undisputed heavyweight champion to be crowned in 2023, the IBF on Monday scrapped the requirement that the Usyk divisional champion Theirs will be against Filip Hrgovic next. This is a bit surprising since the IBF – to its credit – is usually quite strict when it comes to its title listings having to contend with their mandatory requirements. There is no doubt (no pun intended) of it being possible to have an undisputed divisional champion come to the competition before its decision is made.
In fact, there hasn’t been an undisputed heavyweight king since Lennox Lewis in 2000. It’s been almost a quarter of a century without a clear champion in the division, although the Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, held all the heavyweight titles separately between them simultaneously for some time afterward.
