Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk set for February 17 in Saudi Arabia

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk appear to have a date set, with Mike Coppinger of ESPN.com reporting that the two will meet in an undisputed heavyweight title clash on Feb. 17, 2024, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Fury (34-0-1, 24 KO) will be putting his WBC title on the line, as well as his lineal claim, while Usyk (21-0, 14 KO) will bring the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles to the fight.

Both Fury, 35, and Usyk, 36, are coming off of at least somewhat controversial bouts.

On Aug. 26 in Poland, Usyk stopped Daniel Dubois in the ninth round, but not before he was dropped in the fifth round on a shot ruled a low blow by the referee. The quick ruling allowed Usyk to take his time to get up and then recover, after which he took over the fight and earned the stoppage.

But many out there did believe Dubois had landed a legitimate shot, and even if Usyk had beaten the count, he would have perhaps been a sitting duck for the challenger.

Fury, of course, just had a far tougher than expected fight with former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, which he won by split decision over 10 rounds in Riyadh.

Conventional wisdom suggests that the Fury we see in February against Usyk will be in better shape and certainly taking the fight more seriously coming in than he did for the Ngannou bout, but we’ll see. And that’s the key thing: we are going to see.

The winner of Fury vs Usyk will be the first undisputed world heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.