Surely the boxing betting odds are right and this has to happen now – Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk for all of boxing’s heavyweight marbles.
Usyk’s second points victory over Anthony Joshua means that the road to boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight king since Lennox Lewis back in 1999 is almost complete. There are only two men left standing.
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Fury and Usyk now hold all of the accepted world titles in the sport’s marquee weight class, and a fight between the pair seems almost inevitable. That is of course if boxing’s notorious politics do not get in the way.
Latest Fury vs Usyk Odds
Not surprisingly the betting is pretty close here, with Fury just holding the edge as the early favorite. Remember he is likely to be around 40lbs heavier (circa three stones) than his Ukrainian opponent on fight night.
‘The Gypsy King’ is currently trading at -250 (bet $250 to win $100) with FanDuel, while Usyk is the +200 (bet $100 to win $200) underdog. The Draw – always a possibility in huge and closely matched fights like this – is a +2000 bet.
When will the fight happen?
So this depends partly on WHERE Fury vs Usyk will take place – and the smart money (lots of it) is on Saudi Arabia again. To be precise, the city of Riyadh.
The money-laden Middle East territory has hosted Ruiz vs Joshua 2 and Usyk vs Joshua 2 in recent years, and was ready to pony up an incredible $155million site fee to stage that ill-fated Fury vs Joshua match last summer.
The date reportedly planned for the bout is Saturday December 17, 2022 – that is the night before soccer’s World Cup final takes place in nearby Qatar. What a weekend for sport, and sports washing…
How to watch Fury vs Usyk on US TV
As of now no confirmed details, but here is what we know:
- Fury’s recent fights have all aired on ESPN in the United States, courtesy of a huge deal he signed with the Worldwide Leader.
- Usyk’s recent fights have aired on streaming platform DAZN in the United States – there appears every chance he could work with them again.
It’s more than possible we get a joint PPV and both ESPN and DAZN get a piece of the pie, but if we had to bet our favorite at this stage would be the outlet from Bristol, Connecticut.
What are Fury and Usyk fighting for?
The simple answer is everything that matters in boxing’s heavyweight division.
Fury is currently the WBC, Ring magazine and lineal champion, while Usyk is the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight king.
Who was the last undisputed heavyweight champion?
You have to go back 23 years to find the last time boxing crowned an undisputed king – how about those politics…
The last unified champion was Brit Lennox Lewis, who claimed all of the titles by outpointing Evander Holyfield in their Las Vegas rematch in November 1999.
Tyson Fury Record
Tyson Fury weighed less than one pound when he was born prematurely in the UK on August 12, 1988. In fact the future heavyweight champ was so small, doctors feared he would not survive.
Fast forward 34 years, and ‘The Gypsy King’ is now a true giant of a man. Given the name Tyson after the great Mike Tyson (his father John is a major fighting man too), Fury stands a massive 6ft 9ins tall (2.06m) with a massive reach of 85ins (2.16m). He has weighed as much as 277lbs on fight night – for that trilogy bout vs Deontay Wilder in October 2021.
Fury’s professional resume is an impressive one – 33 fights in total which give him a record of 32-0-1. He has 32 wins with 22 coming inside distance by KO and just one blemish – that draw with Wilder in their first meeting in December 2018.
Fury always appeared booked for greatness, with his unusual speed and boxing ability (for such a big man) marking him out as a freak in boxing’s heavyweight division.
He claimed a first heavyweight title in 2015 when he went into Wladimir Klitschko’s back yard in Germany and convincingly outpointed the great champion with a brilliant display of boxing which totally threw the Ukrainian.
Fury then had almost three years out of the ring as he endured mental health demons which made him consider suicide. He also ballooned to 400lbs in weight and boxing again seemed a million miles away.
Amazingly Fury not only came back, he did so in style by returning to the top of the mountain with a crushing defeat of the apparently invincible Wilder in their second fight in Las Vegas in February 2020.
Since then Fury has fought twice more – again knocking out Wilder and then doing the same to fellow Brit Dillian Whyte.
Tyson said he was retired following the victory over Whyte – nobody believed him of course. Now he says he’ll fight Usyk for $500million. He may not make quite that paycheck, but it will be pretty nice!
Oleksandr Usyk Record
Oleksandr Usyk – the incredible Ukrainian master boxer – is one step away from achieving his career goal of becoming undisputed champion at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
Usyk posted an unbelievable 335-15 amateur record which culminated in him winning Olympic boxing gold in London in 2012. He was already booked for pro stardom even before he moved into the paid ranks.
Oleksandr – born in Simferopol on January 17, 1987 and now 35 years old – has so far built a 20-0 record which includes winning all of the belts at cruiserweight (200lbs) before moving up.
Usyk claimed the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight belts when outpointing Anthony Joshua convincingly in London in September 2021. He retained the titles with that rematch split decision over Joshua in Saudi in August 2022.
Usyk – also known for his engaging personality as well as his incredible boxing skills – is an absolute master to watch. He may not have the pure size of Fury, but he will ask ‘The Gypsy King’ some difficult boxing questions.
Take for example Round 9 of the AJ rematch, when Usyk appeared to be under attack and in massive trouble. Instead of falling to a first pro defeat he somehow regrouped, came out to win the final three rounds and the fight. Unbelievable.
Usyk, who is mirroring the achievements of the great Evander Holyfield, is somewhat undersized for a heavy these days – he was around 221lbs for the Joshua rematch. He stands 6ft 3ins (1.91m) tall and has a reach of 78ins (1.98m).