NEWS: TYSON FURY CALLS OUT OLEKSANDR USYK, JOE JOYCE INTERJECTS
By: Jay Calderon
World Heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk was ringside on Saturday when Tyson Fury defended his portion of the gold against Derek Chisora. Many fans expected Usyk to immediately confront Fury about a unification bout for 2023, and that's what fans received -- sort of.
After Fury's stoppage win, Tyson took the mic and eventually directed his attention at Usyk, a man not afraid of answering a challenge.
Usyk, after completely dominating the Cruiserweight weight class, soon moved up to Heavyweight and captured three title belts in the sport's biggest division with his September 2021 win over Anthony Joshua. In their return bout earlier this year, Usyk picked up the Ring portion of the gold that Fury had vacated with one of his many brief retirements.
Now, for total unification, Fury and Usyk must meet in a winner-takes-all encounter that will see the victor take him all the gold.
Initially, it appeared as though both men had their sights set solely on just that encounter.
"You're next," Fury yelled at Usyk, who made his way to the ring. "Look at him. 15 stone (210 pounds) little midget beat a bodybuilder (Joshua). Well, I ain't a bodybuilder. I'm going to write you off.
"I've already done one Ukrainian before, Klitschko, and I'll do you as well," Fury said, in reference to his original title-winning performance against future Hall of Famer Wladimir Klitschko.
The entire time, Fury delighted the 60,000 fans in attendance with his verbal assault, while Usyk remained mostly unmoved. However, there was another unbeaten Heavyweight on hand that didn't mind going back and forth a little bit.
The hard-hitting Joe Joyce, undefeated in 15 fights as a professional, soon jumped up onto the ringside area and immediately got into the face of Fury.
After Tyson Fury jokingly(?) suggested the three of them make it a Royal Rumble-style clash, the British Heavyweight titlist suggested he'd be open to the Joyce clash, provided the Usyk encounter were to fall through.
"I'm the only one to call your name out, everyone else is scared of you. So, if this little rabbit don't want it and it can't be made, let's me and you, my brother, do Wembley," Fury shouted at Joyce.
To be honest, either fight is pretty damn decent. Naturally, the unification bout is the sexier, more attractive option. However, Joyce is a solid, unbeaten big man that is perhaps the only fighter that can come relatively close to Fury in terms of his dimensions.
Regardless of where Fury goes next, he announced he will be taking some time to have surgery for an injured elbow and will need to let hand issues heal. However, afterwards, the Mancunian says he'll be ready for anyone.
-
If you have any news and tidbits you'd like me to share or comment on, you can contact me by clicking here.