Tyson Fury reportedly will face Dillian Whyte, not Oleksander Usyk, in his next fight. Meanwhile, Usyk will fight Anthony Joshua in a rematch.
All parties reportedly were in negotiations to have Whyte and Joshua step aside in exchange for a great deal of money, which would’ve opened the door to a Fury-Usyk fight for the undisputed heavyweight championship this coming June in Saudi Arabia.
However, the deal never materialized. That leaves us with Fury vs. Whyte for Fury’s WBC title and Joshua vs. Usyk II for Usyk’s IBF, WBA and WBO belts. The earliest these fights could take place is the spring.
The Fury-Whyte fight will go to a purse bid on Friday for lack of serious negotiations up until now, meaning it will be auctioned off to the promoter willing to put up the most money, ESPN reported.
The result of the purse bid will determine exactly when and where the fight will take place.
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Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) will be defending the belt he won by stopping Deontay Wilder in seven rounds in February 2020 and successfully defended by knocking out Wilder again in 11 rounds last October.
Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs), the mandatory challenger, is coming off a fourth-round knockout of Alexander Povetkin in March.
“I can’t wait to punch Dillian Whyte’s face right in, mate,” Fury said in an Instagram video. “I’m going to give him the best hiding he’s ever had in his life. Dillian Whyte, train hard, sucker, because you’re getting annihilated, bum.”
Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) upset Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) by a unanimous decision in September to win his titles. Joshua exercised a rematch clause in the contract for their first fight.
The winner of the Fury-Whyte and Usyk-Joshua II fights could fight for the undisputed championship in the fall or next winter.
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