Tyson Fury v Oleksandr Usyk world title fight postponed until early next year, Frank Warren confirms

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will fight for the undisputed world heavyweight title before mid-March, Frank Warren has confirmed.

The highly anticipated bout was originally scheduled to take place in Riyadh on December 23, but Fury now needs longer to recover from an unexpectedly difficult encounter with Francis Ngannou last weekend.

The former UFC heavyweight champion was making his professional boxing debut in Saudi Arabia, almost pulling off a stunning victory against Fury. But he ended up losing by a controversial split decision, despite knocking his opponent to the canvas in the third round.

Ngannou made it clear he disagreed with the decision, telling his YouTube followers: "I am confident that I won that fight. I wasn’t surprised what happened last night, I knew it would happen.

He added: "It’s not the first thing I’ve found in this boxing world that is kind of sh**y. I don’t care what anybody says here, I’m just going to kick into that nest and expose that s**t out."

Despite Fury claiming he was ready to take on Usyk in December, his promoter Warren made it clear the fight would be postponed.

"It’s not just the bruising, it’s also the fact he was in a 12-week camp and he’s got a new baby," Warren said. "It was a tough fight to win so he needs to go home and take a couple of weeks off. And then you’ve only got six weeks to train.

"If the fight against Ngannou had ended early, 23 December would have been a very reliable date. But when Tyson said he was still ready to fight Usyk, I said: 'You’re not.'"

Boxing's four main sanctioning bodies have agreed to the postponement, with the fight now set to take place early next year.

"The fight will happen before 2 March and it will be for the undisputed title and all four belts," Warren said. "The IBF have given consent for that now and it’s all done. The fight is on. Everybody’s agreed, and it will be announced fairly soon."

The bout could produce boxing’s first undisputed world heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. Usyk will defend his IBF, WBA and WBO belts, while Fury’s WBC title will also be at stake.

Despite Fury’s out-of-sorts performance against Ngannou, who could take on Anthony Joshua next, Warren said he remained confident at his client’s ability to earn a historic win against Usyk.

"I think Tyson beats Usyk, I really do," he said. "Tyson knows this and he knows what to expect. Usyk’s not going to change his style.

"But Usyk can sit there and think to himself: 'Is there now a little chink in Tyson’s armour?' Who knows? But Usyk is a competitor. He wants to fight and he’ll go for it. It’ll be a good fight."

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