WBC Special Preview: Fury vs. Usyk
WBC STATISTICS
WBC HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
May 18, 2024 / Riyadh, Saudi Arabia / Kingdom Arena
RIYADH SEASON + QUEENSBERRY PROMOTIONS & TOP RANK PRESENT:
👑Undisputed Heavyweight👑
🇬🇧Fury vs Usyk🇺🇦
✴️Riyadh Season
🇸🇦Saudi Arabia
📅May 18
Fury vs. Usyk is the most significant heavyweight battle of the millennium, as the winner will become the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis claimed the throne in 1999.
Exclusively in DAZN
Subscribe: https://DAZN.com/WBC
“The Gypsy King” TYSON FURY (United Kingdom)
WBC Heavyweight World Champion / 4th Title Defense
Age: 35 / Date of birth: August 12, 1988
Residence: Morecambe, Lancashire, United Kingdom / Birthplace: Manchester, Lancashire, United Kingdom
Record: 34-0-1, 24 KOs / Total rounds: 230 / World championship fights: 5-0-1, 4 KOs
Height: 6’9” – 206cm / Reach: 85” – 216cm / Stance: Right-handed
Manager: Spencer Brown / Trainer: SugarHill Steward
Promoters: Queensberry Promotions + Top Rank
OLEKSANDR USYK (Ukraine)
IBF, WBA Super, WBO Heavyweight World Champion, 3rd Title Defense
Former WBC, WBA, IBF, WBO Cruiserweight World Champion, 6 Defenses
Age: 37 / Date of birth: January 17, 1987
Residence: Kyiv, Ukraine / Birthplace: Simferopol, Crimea
Record: 21-0, 14 KOs / Total rounds: 177 / World championship fights: 10-0, 4 KOs
Height: 6’3” – 191cm / Reach: 78” – 198cm / Stance: Left-handed
Manager: Egis Klimas / Trainer: Yuriy Tkachenko
WBC HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONS
1. Sonny Liston (US) 1963 – 1964
2. Muhammad Ali (US) 1964 – 1967
3. Joe Frazier (US) 1968 – 1973
4. George Foreman (US) 1973 – 1974
5. Muhammad Ali (US) * 1974 – 1978
6. Leon Spinks (US) 1978
7. Ken Norton (US) 1977 – 1978
8. Larry Holmes (US) 1978 – 1983
9. Tim Witherspoon (US) 1984
10. Pinklon Thomas (US) 1984 – 1985
11. Trevor Berbick (Can) 1986
12. Mike Tyson (US) 1986 – 1990
13. James Douglas (US) 1990
14. Evander Holyfield (US) 1990 – 1992
15. Riddick Bowe (US) 1992
16. Lennox Lewis (GB) 1993 – 1994
17. Oliver McCall (US) 1994 – 1995
18. Frank Bruno (GB) 1995 – 1996
19. Mike Tyson (US) * 1996
20. Lennox Lewis (GB) * 1997 – 2001
21. Hasim Rahman (US) 2001
22. Lennox Lewis (GB) * 2001 – 2003
23. Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine) 2004
24. Hasim Rahman (US) * 2005 – 2006
25. Oleg Maskaev (Kazakhstan) 2006 – 2008
26. Samuel Peter (Nigeria) Interim 2007 – 2008
27. Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine)* 2008 – 2014
28. Bermane Stiverne (Haiti-US) 2014 – 2015
29. Deontay Wilder (US) 2015 – 2020
30. Tyson Fury (GB) 2020 –
* Regained title
WBC TOP 10
1. Muhammad Ali (US)
2. Mike Tyson (US)
3. Lennox Lewis (GB)
4. Larry Holmes (US)
5. Evander Holyfield (US)
6. George Foreman (US)
7. Joe Frazier (US)
8. Vitaly Klitschko (Ukraine)
9. Sonny Liston (US)
10. Ken Norton (US)
GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE HEAVYWEIGHT DIVISION IN WBC HISTORY
24 heavyweight world champions have been recognized by the WBC, five of whom have regained the title: Muhammad Ali (US), Mike Tyson (US), Lennox Lewis two times (GB), Hasim Rahman (US), Vitali Klitschko (Ukraine).
118 heavyweight world championship fights have been held in WBC history.
MEMORABLE WBC HEAVYWEIGHT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIGHTS
Dec. 3, 2022 Tyson Fury TKO10 Derek Chisora – London, England
Apr. 23, 2022 Tyson FuryTKO6 Dillian Whyte – London, England
Oct. 9, 2021 Tyson Fury KO11 Deontay Wilder – Las Vegas, Nevada
Feb. 22, 2020 Tyson Fury TKO7 Deontay Wilder – Las Vegas, Nevada
Nov. 23, 2019 Deontay Wilder KO7 Luis Ortiz – Las Vegas, Nevada
Dec. 1 2018 Deontay Wilder D12 Tyson Fury – Los Angeles, California
Jan. 17, 2015 Deontay Wilder W12 Bermane Stiverne – Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct. 11, 2008 Vitali Klitschko TKO9 Samuel Peter – Berlin, Germany
Mar. 8, 2008 Samuel Peter TKO6 Oleg Maskaev – Cancun, Mexico
Apr. 24, 2004 Vitali Klitschko KO8 Corrie Sanders – Los Angeles, California
Jun. 21, 2003 Lennox Lewis TKO6 Vitali Klitschko – Los Angeles, California
Jun. 8, 2002 Lennox Lewis KO8 Mike Tyson – Memphis, Tennessee
Nov. 17, 2001 Lennox Lewis KO4 Hasim Rahman – Las Vegas, Nevada
Apr. 22, 2001 Hasim Rahman KO5 Lennox Lewis – Brakpan, South Africa
Mar. 19, 1999 Lennox Lewis D12 Evander Holyfield – New York, New York
Sep. 2, 1995 Frank Bruno W12 Oliver McCall – London, England
May 8, 1993 Lennox Lewis W12 Tony Tucker – Las Vegas, Nevada
Apr. 19, 1001 Evander Holyfield W12 George Foreman – Atlantic City, New Jersey
Mar. 18, 1991 Mike Tyson TKO7 Donovan Ruddock (Eliminator) – Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct. 25, 1990 Evander Holyfield KO3 James Douglas – Las Vegas, Nevada
Feb. 11, 1990 James Douglas KO10 Mike Tyson – Tokyo, Japan
Jul. 21, 1989 Mike Tyson TKO1 Carl Williams – Atlantic City, New Jersey
June 27, 1988 Mike Tyson KO1 Michael Spinks – Atlantic City, New Jersey
Nov. 22, 1986 Mike Tyson TKO2 Trevor Berbick – Las Vegas, Nevada
Mar. 22, 1986 Trevor Berbick W12 Pinklon Thomas – Las Vegas, Nevada
Apr. 11, 1981 Larry Holmes W15 Trevor Berbick – Las Vegas, Nevada
Sep. 28, 1979 Larry Homes TKO11 Earnie Shavers – Las Vegas, Nevada
Jun. 9, 1978 Larry Holmes W15 Ken Norton – Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct. 1, 1975 Muhammad Ali TKO15 Joe Frazier – Manila, Philippines
Oct. 30, 1974 Muhammad Ali KO8 George Foreman – Kinshasa, Zaire
Mar. 8, 1971 Joe Frazier W15 Muhammad Ali – New York, New York
Dec. 10, 1968 Joe Frazier W15 Oscar Bonavena – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 21, 1966 Muhammad Ali TKO6 Henry Cooper – London, England
King Of Four Kingdoms
By James Blears
Throw open the portals wide, mere mortals stand aside, as The Giants collide, wielding their lightning and thunder, casting chaff asunder.
For the first time in the history of the Four Belts, the chance for A One And Only Heavyweight Champion, who, like Atlas, will hold the heavy weight of the Globe aloft draped over his broad shoulders. The glittering prize of The Four Quartets. Not since Lennox Lewis almost quarter of a century ago, has there been an Undisputed Heavyweight Champion. That’s the magnitude of what is at stake. The Molten Magma!
Apt that Kingdom Come… or as it’s been dubbed “Ring of Fire,” to seek out Lord Of The Rings, will be held in the Saudi Kingdom at the Kingdom Arena, Riyadh.
In many ways it’s an aurora of a new era and so the saying cautions: “The dawn doesn’t come twice to awaken a man.”
As World Boxing Council Champion, Gigantic, undefeated herculean Tyson Luke Fury who stands six feet nine inches tall with a poleaxing eighty five inch reach, towers over six feet three inches also unbeaten southpaw Oleksandr Usyk, the WBA, IBF and WBO Champion, whose reach extends to seventy eight inches.
The fight was to have been on February 17th three days after Valentine’s Day, but due to the cut suffered by Tyson Fury in sparring, it’s now earmarked for May 18th.
Both have therefore had more time to get ready, or rather ready themselves. Fury in particular looks even sharper and more in trim. However, there’s likely to be a cuddly weight difference approaching fifty pounds. A gargantuan king’s ransom payday for each, with the lion’s share of the cut, going not to “The Cat”, but to: “The Gypsy King.”
A mighty ambitious quest for a former Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion to step up and take on the most colossal Heavyweight Champion, with the exception of Nicolai Valuev. Tyson Fury says that as far as he’s concerned, Oleksandr Usyk is but an average sized heavyweight, which provides he himself with all of the palpable physical advantages, leading to dividends.
Usyk’s astute Manager Egis Klimas muses this stature statute, by saying his champion must avoid getting engaged, enmeshed and entangled in clinches, to evade the massive Leaning Tower of Pisa weight exerted by Fury, which would prove a draining plus tiring trial and tribulation.
Prior to the first Liston Vs Clay fight, Cassius and Coach Angelo Dundee invaded Sonny’s training camp. Sonny’s Coach Willie Reddish was slamming a medicine ball into the big man’s midriff. Angelo laconically commented, it would be better directed to Sonny’s face, because that’s where “My guy will be applying his focus and fists.”
Doubtful that the Usyk camp are going to lean a Mini Cooper on their man, to get him accustomed to the Fury clinches. His job is to jab, stick, apply flurries and then… evade.
So, Oleksandr who learned his trade winning the World Championships and Olympic Gold, even before putting in a glove in the pro arena, will try to skirt around potential disaster with quick, pinpoint attacks and then step aside, laterally and literally from an advancing giant, who is indeed able and nimble. Far from lumbering.
No matter if a fighter stands five feet or seven feet tall, his bottom will dust the canvass, if he’s hit right on the button. Early in his career Tyson Fury was dropped by Neven Pajkic, and then by Steve Cunningham on his US debut at Madison Square Garden. Needled, yet needless to say, he got up and stopped both.
In his three epics with Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury was dropped four times. He returned the favor fivefold. In his most recent non- title fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou he was put down by a left hook in round three and labored to a SD. It was an atrocious performance. As the song goes: “Two lovely black eyes, just for telling a man he was wrong.
Tyson Fury hadn’t taken the fight sufficiently seriously and it’s starkly obvious he hadn’t trained flat out. The love handles around his waist were more apparent than usual and he was almost embarrassed. This came close to derailing the night of glory, which had to be put back, so he could recover from a veritable buffeting. Then the sliced eye!
It hadn’t been quite as gory as his encounter with southpaw Swede Otto Wallin. Back then, a left hook sliced open Fury’s right brow in round three. A subsequent clash of heads then gashed his right eyelid. The combined collateral damage required forty seven stiches of micro surgery to seal and repair. Oleksandr Usyk has been cut but he’s never been canvassed in his pro career.
For this one, Tyson Fury hasn’t cut corners in his preparations. Recent photos show that he’s honed himself into a leaner, meaner fighting machine. It would be a mistake to judge him on his previous and most recent fight. He’s motivated and he’s ready for The Supreme Test.
On a recent visit to Martes a Café at Sports and Chips in Mexico City, Egis Klimas confided that his exacting task involved finding extra tall rangy sparring partners for his fighter. Even then he said there was still a lot of strenuous and meticulous work remaining to get Oleksandr into tip top shape for this unique encounter. This contradicted Oleksandr, who when he visited the World Boxing Council Convention in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, last November insisted he was good and ready to fight Tyson Fury, then and there!
Nicknamed “The Cat” Oleksandr Usyk is confidently predicting this will be Year of The Cat. No: “On a hot tin roof” scenario for him, as he unhinged and derailed a potential Battle of Britain clause because he twice defeated Anthony Joshua. So that fight with Fury was out of the window.
He prudently took his time in recovering and regaining his composure from the fifth round Daniel Dubois body blow in Poland. The chance was there and then gone…For Dubois it evaporated. Dubois was knocked down in the eighth and ninth and counted out. The margin of the punch landing was controversial . The eventual outcome wasn’t
Both of Fury and Usyk possess ring smarts, have overcome adversity and know how to grasp the main chance, when opportunity knocks. Fury has been known to briefly and adroitly fight from a southpaw stance. Perhaps not a good idea against left handed Usyk?
Many experts say that an in shape, focused Tyson Fury will prove just too big and powerful for Oleksandr Usyk, who aged thirty seven, with the same birthday as Muhammad Ali, is almost two years older than the Mancunian.
Others predict that speed and agility will be the decisive factors: “He that sows the wind, shall reap the whirlwind.” All four belts are there for the taking. When all is said and done: “Four things come not back. The spoken word, the sped arrow, past life…and the neglected opportunity.”
Related posts
test