Promoter Frank Warren says the trilogy match between Tyson Fury and unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk is contracted, as long as ‘The Gypsy King’ is victorious on Saturday night in the rematch in Saudi Arabia.

Risking The Mega-Fight

If Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) wins on Saturday, fans would prefer to see him move on and face Anthony Joshua or Daniel Dubois rather than go straight into a trilogy fight with Usyk. The third fight between them can always happen later after Tyson fights the 35-year-old AJ, who at this point looks very shaky after getting blown out in five rounds by Dubois.

Given Joshua’s vulnerable condition, it would be a mistake for Fury to take the trilogy match with Usyk. If Joshua gets beaten again while Tyson is booked to fight Oleksandr again, it will take a lot of interest from the boxing public to see a Fury-Joshua match.

All Time Great?

Warren argues that if Fury, 36, defeats Usyk, it will make him one of the all-time greats. That’s a bit of a stretch because the Gypsy King would still lack the wins over high-quality fighters who were still young when he beat them.

Fury’s Best Career Wins

• Wladimir Klitschko
• Deontay Wilder
• Dillian Whyte
• Derek Chisora

You’d be making a huge stretch to think that Fury’s best wins make him one of the all-time greats in boxing. Even if he does beat 37-year-old Usyk on Saturday night, his resume would still be too thin to put him among the greats of boxing, and definitely at #1. That would be a joke, and no one would take it seriously.

At this point, Fury’s #1 career win is a narrow 12-round victory over 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko. If you followed the Wlad’s fighter, you’d recognize that he was a faded fighter by the time the then 27-year-old Fury fought him.

Try to imagine where Fury physically will be when he’s 39 and fighting one of the top guys. You won’t be able to argue that he was at his best, and you’d have to discredit any victory for a younger fighter over the old shell of Fury. That’s why it’s impossible to list Fury among the all-time greats in boxing, as his resume is too weak.

Trilogy Contract

“It does because it’s contracted, and whatever happens that would be the case if Tyson wins, provided nobody retires,” said promoter Frank Warren to Boxing News about a trilogy match between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk being contracted.

“A lot of journalists after the last fight…the majority of them said that Usyk is now the best heavyweight of his generation that he deserves to be up there with the Ali’s, the Lewis’, and the Marciano’s and all these guys going back in time.

If Tyson beats him [Usyk], then that becomes Tyson, and I think Tyson is there anyway. The fact that he’s a two-time world champion [title wins over Wladimir Klitschko and Deontay Wilder], the fact that he’s won his titles on the road in the other guy’s countries or adopted country [Germany for fight against 39-year-old Wladimir]. He’s [Fury] there. He’s a great, great fighter. He come through this one, he’s an even better fighter.

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— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) December 18, 2024