Hughie Fury vs Michael Hunter final eliminator official for July 2nd in Manchester

Hughie Fury’s and Michael Hunter’s previously revealed showdown will have some additional stakes, as BOXXER has announced a date of July 2nd for what’s officially a WBA final eliminator.

That’s an eliminator for the “world” title, to be clear, not the one currently held by Oleksandr Usyk; said title will be on the line when Trevor Bryan (allegedly) defends it against Daniel Dubois on June 11th. Either the WBA’s title reduction program doesn’t apply to heavyweight or they’re just resigned to the fact that their spot in the mandatory rotation won’t arrive for a while.

In any case, this is the first major fight for either man in quite a while. Fury’s (26-3, 15 KO) beaten some Usual Suspects like Christian Hammer and Mariusz Wach since a 2019 loss to Alexander Povetkin, while Hunter’s (20-1-2, 14 KO) squandered whatever momentum he gained from his own draw with “Sasha” by skipping an IBF eliminator in favor of fighting mid- to low-level opposition on Triller.

Either one vs. Dubois could make for a good fight, though I’m getting some bad vibes from this stylistic clash. Fingers crossed.

“I take the fights everyone avoids. Michael Hunter has fought the best and is up there with the best. These are the fights I want, to show who is the best fighter out there. I’m looking forward to this challenge. I believe I’m one of the best fighters in the world and this is another big fight to prove I stand with the top three in the world heavyweight division,” said Fury.

As an aside, this looks to be running head to head with Jason Cunningham vs. Zolani Tete in London, so plan accordingly.