Staff Reporter.
Tyson Fury’s undisputed heavyweight title fight against Oleksandr Usyk has been rescheduled for 18 May in Saudi Arabia.
Briton Fury, 35, had been due to fight Ukraine’s Usyk on 17 February but withdrew from the contest on Friday after sustaining a cut in sparring.
Their bout will crown the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
Fury is the WBC champion, while Usyk holds the IBF, WBO and WBA titles.
Usyk, 37, had been in talks to fight Croatia’s Filip Hrgovic as a replacement for Fury on the February date.
Hrgovic is the mandatory challenger to Usyk’s IBF belt and there were fears the Ukrainian could be stripped of that title if Fury was sidelined for several months.
But in a fast-moving 24 hours, Saudi Arabian organisers and Team Fury moved quickly to secure a new date for the bout.
There has not been an undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999.
Fury’s cut above his right eye required “urgent medical attention” and “significant stitching”. It is the third time since 2023 a fight date between Usyk and Fury has been rescheduled.
Event organiser Turki Alalashikh, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s general entertainment authority, said if either Usyk or Fury withdrew from the new date they would forfeit £9.25m to the other fighter.
Speaking on the MMA Hour, it was also announced Dmitry Bivol and Artur Beterbiev would fight on 1 June in a light-heavyweight undisputed fight between two undefeated champions.
Bivol holds the WBA (Super) title while Beterbiev has the WBO, IBF and WBC belts.
The Russians will headline Matchroom’s five-versus-five card against Queensberry Promotions where five of Eddie Hearn’s best fighters will fight five of Frank Warren’s best.