The ‘Gypsy King’ suffered the second defeat to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night, with many now wondering what’s next for the two-time heavyweight world champion
Eddie Hearn has insisted that Tyson Fury should take on two-time heavyweight world champion Anthony Joshua in what would be the ‘biggest fight in history of British boxing’.
The ‘Gypsy King’ suffered the second defeat of his professional career on Saturday, losing to Oleksandr Usyk via unanimous decision in Riyadh. Fury was looking to avenge his defeat to the Ukrainian back in May amid talks of a ‘contracted’ trilogy bout between the pair.
Despite boxing brilliantly in the opening exchanges, Fury just didn’t have an answer for Usyk’s footwork and speed on the front-foot. The Ukrainian enjoyed a lot of success with the shots to the body, particularly towards the midway point of the heavyweight dust-up in the Middle East.
After just falling short on the biggest stage, many are now wondering what’s next for Fury. Matchroom promoter Hearn has revealed he will look to stage a historic clash between Joshua and Fury. “I don’t think it’s time to start screaming, this night is Usyk vs Fury, but the reality is there’s only one fight for Tyson Fury and that’s Anthony Joshua,” Hearn told DAZN.
“It’s the biggest fight probably in the history of British boxing, everyone will always want to see it. And by the way, that wasn’t a Tyson Fury that looked finished, it wasn’t a flat performance, it wasn’t a poor performance, he didn’t look gun-shy, he didn’t look like his punch resistance was in question like we talked about earlier.
“I think Tyson Fury is still potentially at the peak of his powers, just not good enough to be Oleksandr Usyk tonight. But for me, AJ against Fury is the one, it’s the one at Wembley, I’m going to be pushing His Excellency [Turki Alalshikh] to make the fight, but that’s maybe one for another day, tonight belongs to Oleksandr Usyk. But Fury will struggle with this, I think. All fighters do, AJ struggled with the Dubois defeat as well, you’re a winner and when you get beat it hurts and this will hurt Fury.”
Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren was quick to hit out at the scoring of the contest in Riyadh. The promoter said: “One judge gave Usyk the last seven rounds. “How on earth can anyone say he never won one round out of the last 7? I’m dumbfounded at the scoring.”
While Fury said: “I thought I won that fight again. I thought I won both fights but going home with two losses on my record. Not much I can do about it, I can just fight my heart out and do the best I can. I’ll believe until the day I die that I won that fight. I was aggressive, on the front foot all night, landing body and head. I think he got a Christmas gift from the judges.” Usyk was quick to dismiss their claims, saying: “Uncle Frank, I think blind. If Tyson says Christmas gift, OK thank you God, not Tyson, thank you my team. Listen, Frank crazy man I think. In my opinion. No problem. I win.”