[ POLL ] The Unification Fight: FURY vs USYK 18th MAY 2024 re-scheduled

[hilariousetc]

think the fight will not actually happen?
i think so too. the date is so close already yet nothing is being hyped online. the fight will be held in Saudi, this is a place where people are giving away gold bars. the richest country in this region, it can't flop this way for it would only mean, they are pretty much interested in Frank Ngannou than Fury and Usyk.

if they want to make this event noisier, my suggestion is to put AJ vs Ngannou on the co-main event.

Nah, that's a stand-alone fight in itself and neither fighter will want to be on Fury's undercard when they're both chasing fights with him. Until I see the press conference I'm still sceptical of this fight going ahead, but they did at least release the poster for it which I'm not sure they would do if they thought it might get called off, though I guess either fighter could pull out of their own volition.

Kovalev is 40 years old and beyond shot. He was already considered washed up when he was cherry-picked by Canelo, and that was many years ago. With all the legal problems he has had it doesn't surprise me that he is now desperate for a paycheck.

I was considering buying the PPV but if it's going to be $80, it kind of feels like a ripoff even if the main event is a historic heavyweight fight.

The PPVs in the USA are always a rip off and are usually 3-4x the times of it in the UK. I think this fight could come at a premium though given it's a historical undisputed but the Saudi's don't really care about making their money back and will always make a loss from these type of showdowns as no amount of PPV revenue is gonna cover the boxers fees.

[Kemarit]

I've search for the undercard and this is what I've found:

Joe Cordina vs. Anthony Cacace
Sergey Kovalev vs. Robin Sirwan
Isaac Lowe vs. Hasibullah Ahmadi
Moses Itauma vs. TBA Bakhodir
Jalolov vs. TBA
David Nyika vs. TBA

(https://www.boxingnews24.com/2024/01/fury-usyk-undercard-unveiled-opetaia-vs-briedis-2-on-february-17th-in-saudi-arabia/)

Lame undercard though, seriously Kovalev? And then Cordina?

Is that the best that they can put in this great fight?

Kovalev is 40 years old and beyond shot. He was already considered washed up when he was cherry-picked by Canelo, and that was many years ago. With all the legal problems he has had it doesn't surprise me that he is now desperate for a paycheck.

I was considering buying the PPV but if it's going to be $80, it kind of feels like a ripoff even if the main event is a historic heavyweight fight.

Yes, most likely Kovalev is just looking for a his last pay check here and he was just lucky that he was still given a fight in the undercard here. But then the PPV though, yeah I believed its going to be $80 as this is the biggest fight in Heavyweight. But the undercard is really disappointed, however, as @hilariousetc said, the Saudi doesn't care about making money here, all this wealthy person wanted to see the best of the best in Usyk and Fury.

If they are going to lose money, it's fine with them and it's good to the sports of boxing as I have said. At least everyone is happy as they are making money and hopefully we can see fights more often, undisputed or just two great boxers, specially in the lower weight class and not just for the HW division.

[JollyGood]

It could be the case they (Fury and Usyk) will let all this drag on without much fanfare for several weeks more and then go on a publicity campaign to bring more of a spotlight on the fight. Also, eventually when the two boxers get on a stage to face-off at the weight-in, that will be a significant moment. If that is their plan (not wanting to overhype, I think their strategy will fail).

If the teams behind the Fury vs Usyk fight are looking at the buzz surrounding the Joshua vs Ngannou fight, they have to accept there is a problem. I think there should be far more anticipation and excitement at the unification fight but Ngannou had added a new dimension to the heavyweight scene (for now at least).

Well, I think the hype only started to pick up in the past few days. Before that there was hardly a whisper regarding this fight and it was not being mentioned as much as it should. Regarding who Fury will fight if he wins or who Usyk will fight if he wins, I think beyond Parker and Joshua (and now Ngannou) there are not many heavyweights out there that can either or fill a void.

Even if Usyk is the underdog, he cannot be that far behind because the high standards of Fury have dropped to unbelievably low levels.

I still don't think there's been any hype. All we've had so far is a poster and no real comments from anyone involved or an undercard yet. The AJ/Ngannou fight is dominating talks so far and that fights even further away. They need to get the press conference sorted and that's when things will heat up. Fury will be a gobshite as usual wanting to grab headlines.

[hilariousetc]

It could be the case they (Fury and Usyk) will let all this drag on without much fanfare for several weeks more and then go on a publicity campaign to bring more of a spotlight on the fight. Also, eventually when the two boxers get on a stage to face-off at the weight-in, that will be a significant moment. If that is their plan (not wanting to overhype, I think their strategy will fail).

If the teams behind the Fury vs Usyk fight are looking at the buzz surrounding the Joshua vs Ngannou fight, they have to accept there is a problem. I think there should be far more anticipation and excitement at the unification fight but Ngannou had added a new dimension to the heavyweight scene (for now at least).

Letting it drag on without promo doesn't make any sense unless there is issues behind the scenes or they're just concentrating on the camp, but something still seems off to me. Frank Warren said something worrying at the end of this interview earlier when asked about the fight and said something along the lines of I hope Tyson doesn't pull out and doesn't believe that's the case but he really doesn't seem that confident: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ht0yY2mzHB4

The fight is less than a month away now and still no undercard or press conference announced. If they don't announce something before the end of the month my money is on the fight not happening. They need to get moving with this so the AJ/Ngannou fight doesn't overshadow it then and soon as this fight is done they can start ramping up the promo for that the following month.

[Kemarit]

Many are still enraged with how the undercard are put up for this fight. I think everyone here as well can't believed that a wash up fighter is there for the biggest fight in this division. To the point that they are saying that this is the worst undercard ever, ouch.

[JollyGood]

I cannot speak for others but in my opinion it is clear Fury will damage his legacy beyond imagination if he pulls out of the fight. Why would he play mind games for the sake of getting to this stage only to withdraw from the fight?

I completely agree with you, something does not seem right about the way the lack of promotion is playing out but even more than that the lack of comments from both boxers has been noted too and I do not think it is down to them concentrating on their training.

Letting it drag on without promo doesn't make any sense unless there is issues behind the scenes or they're just concentrating on the camp, but something still seems off to me.

[hilariousetc]

Many are still enraged with how the undercard are put up for this fight. I think everyone here as well can't believed that a wash up fighter is there for the biggest fight in this division. To the point that they are saying that this is the worst undercard ever, ouch.

Where has this been announced though cos I haven't seen anything from the official channels or the promoters etc? Nothing on either fighters socials nor Turki's where it's usually the first to be posted. Frank Warren has been saying we'll all be blown away by the undercard and that's certainly not a very good one. Jai Opetaia was reportedly sent home from sparring with Fury after only 5 rounds and there's rumours he knocked down Fury so if he's fighting then what are they doing sparring together at such a late stage?

https://boxing-social.com/news/jai-opetaia-leaves-tyson-fury-camp/
https://www.boxingnews24.com/2024/01/rumor-mill-churns-opetaias-team-denies-fury-knockdown-rumors/

I cannot speak for others but in my opinion it is clear Fury will damage his legacy beyond imagination if he pulls out of the fight. Why would he play mind games for the sake of getting to this stage only to withdraw from the fight?

I completely agree with you, something does not seem right about the way the lack of promotion is playing out but even more than that the lack of comments from both boxers has been noted too and I do not think it is down to them concentrating on their training.

Letting it drag on without promo doesn't make any sense unless there is issues behind the scenes or they're just concentrating on the camp, but something still seems off to me.

I think there should be a new poll: Will this fight go ahead on the 17th. It's only three weeks away now and we've still got nothing. I think Fury is probably desperately trying to get fit/in shape behind the scenes but might know he isn't ready for what is gonna be one of the toughest if not the toughest fight of his career. Maybe the Francis performance has knocked his confidence. To be honest, I think they might be better off doing this fight after the AJ/Ngannou one and then they can announce the winner of that fight will get a shot at either Fury or Usyk again.

[JollyGood]

Though everything related to the fight is muted I think it will be a public relations disaster for the Saudi government promotions machine if the fight is called-off. What was Fury and his team thinking when he decided to fight Ngannou just a four months before a heavyweight unification fight? I have no doubt Usyk would have been empowered by what he saw when Ngannou took the fight to Fury but Usyk dropped a few levels in standard when he beat Dubois in th 9th round back in August.

If Fury vs Usyk goes ahead on 17th February and then Joshua vs Ngannou take place on 8th March, these fights will define the rest of the year when it comes to heavyweight boxing. Parker is not going anywhere especially after he dismantled Wilder, he deserves a title fight. If Ngannou beats Joshua (as I am sure he will), this is going to be a year of a couple more title fights.

I think there should be a new poll: Will this fight go ahead on the 17th. It's only three weeks away now and we've still got nothing. I think Fury is probably desperately trying to get fit/in shape behind the scenes but might know he isn't ready for what is gonna be one of the toughest if not the toughest fight of his career. Maybe the Francis performance has knocked his confidence. To be honest, I think they might be better off doing this fight after the AJ/Ngannou one and then they can announce the winner of that fight will get a shot at either Fury or Usyk again.

[hilariousetc]

Though everything related to the fight is muted I think it will be a public relations disaster for the Saudi government promotions machine if the fight is called-off.

I don't think it will be too bad for them if they just push it back a month or so. I think it will be very bad for them if this fight goes ahead without much promo or fanfare though. Normally the fighters go on big press tours for these fights to try sell it to the mainstream/casual fans who will only tune in for special fights but without any promo it will just be the hardcore that bother. Maybe the Saudi's don't even care about viewing figures but the networks that will be broadcasting it certainly will so surely they should be pushing for promos.

What was Fury and his team thinking when he decided to fight Ngannou just a four months before a heavyweight unification fight? I have no doubt Usyk would have been empowered by what he saw when Ngannou took the fight to Fury but Usyk dropped a few levels in standard when he beat Dubois in th 9th round back in August.

Greed. Fury got paid a shitload and thought it was gonna be an easy fight and a walk in the park for him.

If Fury vs Usyk goes ahead on 17th February and then Joshua vs Ngannou take place on 8th March, these fights will define the rest of the year when it comes to heavyweight boxing. Parker is not going anywhere especially after he dismantled Wilder, he deserves a title fight. If Ngannou beats Joshua (as I am sure he will), this is going to be a year of a couple more title fights.

These four involved will likely face each other at some point. Francis wants another go at Fury and AJ has been wanting the Fury fight for years, and then of course we might even get Usyk V AJ for the trilogy which might be a good option for them. There's plenty of combos that can happen and the Fury/Usyk rematch that is contracted will probably happen too though possibly not if one of them gets battered and might not want to go again. If either fighters gets embarrassed they might just call it a day.

[cabron]

This Fury vs Usyk fight should be even bigger than Fury vs Ngannou but yap there is not much promotion even just flash talks on news channels with sports news.

Could it be that the war in the Red Sea is making the fight close to being postponed/canceled?  Are they afraid Houtis are going to shoot the planes too?
If there is less promotion for this fight, there's got to be some reason for it or this fight is just promoted in Saudi and exclusively for the richest men in Saudi.

[aioc]

This Fury vs Usyk fight should be even bigger than Fury vs Ngannou but yap there is not much promotion even just flash talks on news channels with sports news

It is the biggest boxing event this year because what is at stake are all the titles in the heavyweight division and be pride to called the lineal champion the last lineal champion who held the last belt was Lennox and that was 20 years ago, whoever wins the both here will take everything and that includes the greatest in this era.
Whoever wins the fight can retire happily as there's no need to prove he had a large amount of money and he has established any boxer's goal to become the greatest, so February 17th is the much-awaited day for boxing fans.

[JollyGood]

Greed. Fury got paid a shitload and thought it was gonna be an easy fight and a walk in the park for him.

How many people gave Ngannou much hope before the fight took place? Fury did not seem as though he was in the best shape and he obviously thought it was going to be an easy night. The amount of money he made from the Ngannou fight should never have been the reason why he might not be in the best mental or physical shape to face Usyk. Fury might regret fighting Ngannou if he loses his titles to Usyk.

These four involved will likely face each other at some point. Francis wants another go at Fury and AJ has been wanting the Fury fight for years, and then of course we might even get Usyk V AJ for the trilogy which might be a good option for them. There's plenty of combos that can happen and the Fury/Usyk rematch that is contracted will probably happen too though possibly not if one of them gets battered and might not want to go again. If either fighters gets embarrassed they might just call it a day.

Of all the possible fights you mentioned, I think Fury vs Ngannou is the one that will not happen. I just cannot see them getting in the ring to face each other again. I think Wilder should retire after the manner in which Parker outclassed and outboxed him therefore Fury, Usyk, Joshua and Parker remain. Ruiz should also have been in the mix but he did have surgery on his shoulder and was inactive since 2022 therefore he will need to work a lot to get a chance at a title.

If Fury vs Usyk and Joshua vs Ngannou go ahead as planned, where do you think Parker fits in with his next fight?

[hilariousetc]

It looks like Fury and Usyk have done a face-to-face off round-table interview at least with a leaked clip surfacing: https://talksport.com/sport/1723884/proof-oleksandr-usyk-fierce-response-tyson-fury-mock-earring/

Oleksandr Usyk took no offence from Tyson Fury's insults about his earring during their face-to-face sit-down interview.

Ahead of the undisputed heavyweight world title fight on February 17, the two rival champions filmed a special show together for TNT Sports, which has leaked online.

So it looks like the fight is still going on at least, but I'm still sceptical.

Greed. Fury got paid a shitload and thought it was gonna be an easy fight and a walk in the park for him.

How people gave Ngannou much hope before the fight took place? Fury did not seem as though he was in the best shape and he obviously thought it was going to be an easy night. The amount of money he made from the Ngannou fight should never have been the reason why he might not be in the best mental or physical shape to face Usyk. Fury might regret fighting Ngannou if he loses his titles to Usyk.

Fury is never really 'in shape', but lots of people seemed to be of the opinion that he was just taking an easy fight, but I was quite vocal that Ngannou could quite easily KO him. I thought Francis would try get an early KO though and come out swinging but Francis was very reserved and tried to box instead which has its pros and cons. I don't know whether Fury will regret the Francis fight as he did get the win and got paid handsomely for it but maybe it was the wake up call Tyson needed as that fight definitely should have put his ego down a peg or two.

Of all the possible fights you mentioned, I think Fury vs Ngannou is the one that will not happen. I just cannot see them getting in the ring to face each other again. I think Wilder should retire after the manner in which Parker outclassed and outboxed him therefore Fury, Usyk, Joshua and Parker remain. Ruiz should also have been in the mix but he did have surgery on his shoulder and was inactive since 2022 therefore he will need to work a lot to get a chance at a title.

If Fury vs Usyk and Joshua vs Ngannou go ahead as planned, where do you think Parker fits in with his next fight?

Well, money talks. Like I said, Fury did get the win ultimately (though maybe not in the eyes of many fans) but both can learn from their mistakes and it might make the second fight much more interesting. I guess it depends on how both fighters do in their upcoming fights. If both Ngannou and Tyson win then why not get that fight on again. However, if Ngannou has improved from the first fight and batters AJ Fury might wanna pass haha. With that being said, Ngannou could lose badly and maybe people will lose interest in seeing him again, but the rematch is always there I reckon. Even if Fury loses to Usyk he can still fight Ngannou so there's still lots of options.

[hilariousetc]

One more bizarre entry in the will it won't it happen saga of this fight: The full face-to-face-off interview between Fury and Usyk leaked but is getting removed by TNT sports. Not sure why they haven't just uploaded it to their channel already unless they think this fight might not be happening. https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/25524373/tyson-fury-usyk-tnt-sports-face-off-leaked-earrings/

I watched it and it was Tyson just being Tyson. Trying to mock Usyk and Usyk just being classy and turning it back on him. One thing that was interesting is we got another another lie/contradiction from Fury in that he admitted to not training for as long as he said he did for Ngannou. Tyson contradicts himself so much you never know what to believe is the lie or not. Something really fishy about all this.

[JollyGood]

Fury is never really 'in shape', but lots of people seemed to be of the opinion that he was just taking an easy fight, but I was quite vocal that Ngannou could quite easily KO him. I thought Francis would try get an early KO though and come out swinging but Francis was very reserved and tried to box instead which has its pros and cons. I don't know whether Fury will regret the Francis fight as he did get the win and got paid handsomely for it but maybe it was the wake up call Tyson needed as that fight definitely should have put his ego down a peg or two.

If the fight goes ahead, there would be a sense of irony if Fury facing Ngannou becomes the ultimate reason why Fury becomes undisputed heavyweight champions that unifies all the belts and defeats Usyk. Maybe he was far too confident when getting in the ring with Ngannou without proper training and thought he would pocket several millions of USD$ before facing Usyk. Now he knows he has to be in excellent shape before he get gets in to the ring with Usyk.

One thing that was interesting is we got another another lie/contradiction from Fury in that he admitted to not training for as long as he said he did for Ngannou. Tyson contradicts himself so much you never know what to believe is the lie or not. Something really fishy about all this.

He does contradict himself from time to time 

I think the fight is going ahead. They are both probably occupied in their thoughts about the post-fight world. Fury and Usyk know if they win there will be a rematch clause which will be triggered and if it is not (because the loser retires), the winner knows he can beat Joshua, Parker or Ngannou to retain the titles and retire.

[hilariousandco]

So they finally posted the fight trailer and it's even more epic than the Fury/Ngannou and AJ/Wallin ones: https://youtu.be/uw-c-J90_ZE?si=Bx5Hu30z2poHon8o

At least they're starting the promo now. If it had've got to Feb with nothing I would have assumed it wasn't going to happen.

[JollyGood]

At least you are finally convinced that the unification bout is going ahead as planned. I was always fairly certain it would not be postponed but as we approach closer to fight night I am beginning to have suspicions that something does not seem right. Well, when boxers start turning in to movie stars and animated gigantic alter-egos, it is one way to attract attention. I guess there is no further need to try to hype the fight after that strange attempt at promotion

So they finally posted the fight trailer and it's even more epic than the Fury/Ngannou and AJ/Wallin ones: https://youtu.be/uw-c-J90_ZE?si=Bx5Hu30z2poHon8o

At least they're starting the promo now. If it had've got to Feb with nothing I would have assumed it wasn't going to happen.

[Kemarit]

So they finally posted the fight trailer and it's even more epic than the Fury/Ngannou and AJ/Wallin ones: https://youtu.be/uw-c-J90_ZE?si=Bx5Hu30z2poHon8o

At least they're starting the promo now. If it had've got to Feb with nothing I would have assumed it wasn't going to happen.

And to think that the fight is what? barely two weeks, so definitely it's going to happen with the released of this promo, probably one of the best that we have seen in recent years. So it bring the hype once more for this fight, and if it doesn't excite us, then nothing will, IMHO.

For those looking for the current odds,

Fury @1.66, and Usyk @2.14.

[TopTort777]

So they finally posted the fight trailer and it's even more epic than the Fury/Ngannou and AJ/Wallin ones: https://youtu.be/uw-c-J90_ZE?si=Bx5Hu30z2poHon8o

At least they're starting the promo now. If it had've got to Feb with nothing I would have assumed it wasn't going to happen.

How cool was Fury vs Ngannou promo video, and imho how lame is Usyk vs Fury promo video. Fury seems to look like he did not even wanted to shoot or it is all AI. Usyk, he was a cowboy, gladiator, samurai while in most of his conferences he dresses in Ukrainian national clothes (Vyshyvanka) or/and gets Cossacks look.

I would prefer him to look more like this:



Politics aside, but this looks suits him better, than this outlaw look. I understand that that Cossack wont fit in the video at all, but they could have changed its script or make more funny like Fury vs Ngannou. Usyk loves to have fun, he would sign for that easily.

[Natalim]

So they finally posted the fight trailer and it's even more epic than the Fury/Ngannou and AJ/Wallin ones: https://youtu.be/uw-c-J90_ZE?si=Bx5Hu30z2poHon8o

At least they're starting the promo now. If it had've got to Feb with nothing I would have assumed it wasn't going to happen.

And to think that the fight is what? barely two weeks, so definitely it's going to happen with the released of this promo, probably one of the best that we have seen in recent years. So it bring the hype once more for this fight, and if it doesn't excite us, then nothing will, IMHO.

The link shared by hilariousandco is gone but I saw this one ; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9RWW1pI8kDo.. This must be the trailer people are talking, just released 17 hours ago. I still find Fury vs Ngannou more unique. 

For those looking for the current odds,

Fury @1.66, and Usyk @2.14.

I'll take Fury all day. 1.66 is already a go for me, he is still the top heavyweight in his era IMO.