Promoter Reveals Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk More Likely For Early 2024

Frank Warren has given an update on Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk, as the bout will no longer take place on Dec. 23 as expected.

On Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Fury took on former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a fight many fans thought Fury would cruise to a win. However, Ngannou boxed well and even dropped Fury, as the Brit won a split decision, which is a performance that impressed Warren.

I’ve gotta be honest, I said all along that this fella’s strong, he’s a competitor – because I’ve looked at a lot of his fights that he had in the UFC – and he can punch. I thought he could never outbox Tyson and I expected Tyson to beat him but I thought it would be a rough, tough fight for him and if he catches him, he’ll go,” Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, told Steve Bunce on the 5Live Boxing podcast (h/t BoxingScene) “The fella shaped up much, much better than I thought he would. Normally, MMA guys are a bit more square on. He actually shaped up really well. He gave Tyson the toughest fight he’s had, certainly in his last two fights.

“I thought he made more of a fight of it that Dillian [Whyte] or Dereck Chisora. He’s just a real rough house fighter and as I was watching it I stated thinking about a couple of fighters and what kind of problems he’d give. He’s come out of that with a lot of credibility, there’s no doubt about that. all these so called smart arses who were saying it was a gimmick or an exhibition, did that look like an exhibition? That was a tough fight. I thought he [Fury] won it, I thought he won by three rounds at least on punches landed and so forth. Especially the later rounds he was catching him a lot with his jab,” Warren continued.

Heading into the fight, Tyson Fury had already signed on to fight Oleksandr Usyk on December 23. Yet, Warren says that fight will now longer happen then as it will now take place one early 2024.

“Usyk got in the ring afterwards. That fight was signed and we were gonna do it on 23rd December. I doubt that will happen now because Tyson can’t be going into a camp after a tough fight like that having a week off,” Warren said. “That’s eight weeks away. He needs a bit of time to get his body back into shape and let it heal before he gets back into camp. It’ll be on early next year. Riyadh Season finishes in March. It could be up until then. I told him to [have a rest]. He wanted to fight. I said, ‘Just go and have a break. You don’t have to make no decisions tonight. You do it to your agenda, not to everybody else’s.’”

Do you think we see Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk in the first quarter of 2023?