The heavyweight division looks soon set to have one ruler after Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk agreed terms to face each other in Saudi Arabia.
The fight will see the first heavyweight undisputed champion crowned since Lennox Lewis back in 1999. Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield to capture all the world titles after ‘The Real Deal’ himself had controlled the belts after beating Duster Douglas in 1990.
Usyk will go into the fight looking to emulate Holyfield as the only other man to be undisputed at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
However, in a recent interview with Boxing Social, Holyfield doesn’t rate Usyk’s chances against ‘The Gypsy King’.
“No [he won’t beat Fury]! I think Tyson Fury has shown that he is a great fighter. Out of all the fighters, he’s the one that has been able to make adjustments, and making adjustments makes you better.”
But Holyfield does think there is one man out there with a shot at dethroning Fury – former two-time champion, Anthony Joshua.
The 60-year-old, thinks ‘AJ’ would have a better chance against the current WBC champion than he did against Usyk and that all of Joshua’s attributes would make him the favourite in that fight.
“Joshua is taller than Usyk and they are both strong so then it would come down to speed. I think Anthony Joshua is the perfect fighter for him [Fury] because height-wise, it’s the same. Everything becomes the same when those two fight – it comes down to who’s the strongest.
That looks like it favours Anthony Joshua, but until it happens, it will just be a guessing game.”
Joshua is looking for a marquee win to get him back into title contention after a deal to face Deontay Wilder in the Middle East recently collapsed.