On a night that left no doubts about the exalted position of Oleksandr Usyk in boxing history, there was one question that lingered in the cool Riyadh air: what next?
Not only for the two men who have now shared 24 closely-fought rounds of high-level heavyweight boxing but for the sport’s marquee weight division. Where does it go from here, having just staged back-to-back showdowns between its two best men? When you’re standing at the top of a mountain, is there anywhere to go other than down?
The journey to this point started in Dusseldorf just over nine years ago when Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko to change the course of heavyweight history.
Prior to the night of November 28, 2015, Klitschko had ruled the division for almost a decade, dominating fights with his strength, speed and knockout power. But by the time he took on Fury, there was a desire among fans to see something — anything — change. And the Brit delivered, using his mobility, head movement and switch-hitting to outpoint a champion who failed to find his rhythm for most of the fight.
“That’s the best thing to happen to the heavyweight division in years,” tweeted former heavyweight and cruiserweight world champion David Haye after Fury’s hand was raised in victory.
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Wladimir Klitschko v Tyson Fury changed heavyweight history
Many will feel the nine years that have passed since then prove Haye right. We’ve seen the belts change hands multiple times, enjoyed exciting and unpredictable fights, witnessed shock defeats like Anthony Joshua’s at the hands of Andy Ruiz, an epic trilogy between Deontay Wilder and Fury, and also the emergence of one of the all-time pound-for-pound greats in Usyk’s ability to transfer his dominance at cruiserweight into the heavyweight class.
Yes, there have also been fights that could have been made and hadn’t (or haven’t yet, as the case may be), such as those between Joshua and Wilder, and the all-British showdown between Joshua and Fury, but few would argue that the nine years prior to Klitschko’s defeat were more entertaining or exciting than the nine post (though there’s an argument that perhaps that view punishes Klitschko for simply being too good).
Usyk’s second victory over Fury in the space of seven months leaves the distinct feeling that the post-Klitschko era is approaching its endpoint. Fury and Usyk are 36 and 37 years old respectively — not ancient in heavyweight terms, but certainly closer to the end of their careers than the start. When asked in the post-fight press conference whether we will see him fight again, a visibly emotional Fury said: “You might do. You might not do. We’ll talk about that next year.”
As for Usyk, many thought (or perhaps hoped) that a second victory over Fury would prompt him to stroll off into the sunset, cuddly Eeyore toy tucked under one arm, and the belts on the other. But no. “I do have the will and power to go further,” the champion told the media in the early hours of this morning.
Usyk and his daughter’s cuddly toy at the post-fight press conference (Nick Potts/PA Images via Getty Images)
Indeed, before he’d even left the ring, he was literally faced with the prospect of what could be next as Britain’s Daniel Dubois stepped inside the ropes to ‘confront’ him and demand revenge for the defeat he suffered to the Ukrainian last August. Usyk stopped Dubois in the ninth round that night but the 25-year-old challenger was left feeling wronged. He sent Usyk to the canvas with a heavy blow to the belt line in the fifth round but it was called an illegal low blow by the referee, and the Ukrainian was allowed almost four minutes to recover, which was enough to help him survive to the end of the round — and even finish it strongly.
That moment of controversy (or perhaps dispute is a better word) could be considered enough to build a narrative upon for a rematch between the two, but many also believe that Usyk dominated that fight for almost every minute of every round, and would argue that should the two meet again, the outcome will only be a more convincing one in his favour.
There is also the small (or not-so-small) factor of the fight Dubois has scheduled against a resurgent Joseph Parker on February 22, 2025, back in Riyadh, where the IBF world title Dubois picked up after it was vacated by Usyk will be on the line. Though Dubois has scored impressive wins against Filip Hrgovic and Joshua since his defeat to Usyk, Parker has looked equally strong in beating Wilder and Chinese heavyweight Zhilei ‘Big Bang’ Zhang over the past year.
Confronted by Dubois in the moments after his victory last night, Usyk looked at first bemused and then insouciant at the proposition: “No problem” he said, looking about as bothered by the prospect as he was by Fury’s baiting during their 11-minute face off this week. Turning to Turki Alalshikh, the lead figure behind Saudi Arabia’s position at the centre of the boxing world who was sitting ringside, Usyk invited him to “make me fight with Daniel Dubois”.
Usyk and Daniel Dubois in the ring following his victory over Tyson Fury (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
In the moment, it felt like something of a comedown. Maybe that’s harsh on Dubois but perhaps it’s also indicative of the ridiculously high level Usyk has reached. On Saturday night, he defeated a man almost two years his junior, six inches taller, with a seven-inch reach advantage and almost four stone heavier. If Fury couldn’t do it given those advantages, allied to a similar level of boxing intelligence as Usyk, it’s hard to see Dubois managing to go one better.
But if Usyk is determined to fight on, then someone has to try. Why not let it be Dubois, who gave it a better shot than most believed he would last year? Usyk turns 38 in January and while he clearly lives the life of a professional sportsperson and looked as fit as ever against Fury, time is undefeated. No human can win that battle. Not even Usyk. Will it catch up with him before Dubois (or even Parker) does? It seems unlikely, but that, perhaps, is the one thread there is to cling to as we look at what lies ahead.
For Fury, the path seems to lead just one way (if he does choose to fight on): the all-British mega-fight with Joshua. When asked after the fight what’s next for Fury, Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn told iFL TV: “There’s only one fight… it’s not the time to start calling the fight out. You don’t know what Fury’s gonna do. Maybe he doesn’t want to fight again?”
Going on to make the point that Fury performed well and is by no means “a finished fighter”, Hearn went on to call the fight out: “For me, the only fight to make is AJ-Fury… what the public want is AJ against Fury, it’s what they always want, and it’s time to make that fight.”
Arguably, the “time to make that fight” was June 2020, when both men held world heavyweight titles and reportedly agreed terms of a two-fight deal. Now, each has lost twice to Usyk, with Joshua also suffering that loss to Dubois in September this year. Hearn is right that the appetite will still be there for the matchup between two of Britain’s best heavyweights in recent years but with the caveat that it’s happening five years too late; it’s Britain’s version of Floyd Mayweather v Manny Pacquiao.
A glum Fury reacts to Usyk’s unanimous points win in Riyadh (Mark Robinson/Getty Images)
Beyond Fury and Usyk, it’s hard to see who the next dominant heavyweight will be. But perhaps, that is always the case in sport when someone (or more than one person) seems so far ahead of the rest of the pack.
After Fury beat Klitschko, he spiralled into a depressive state, went up to 28 stone and battled with alcohol abuse. In 2016, he also received a UK Anti-Doping suspension after returning a sample with elevated levels of nandrolone metabolites in February 2015.
Fury has always denied any wrongdoing, claiming to have ingested the substance by eating uncastrated wild boar. It wasn’t really until February 2020, when he stopped Wilder to claim the WBC title, that he established his position at the top of the pile. In the interim, Joshua made a strong claim to be the dominant heavyweight but his shock defeat to Ruiz in 2019 dented it significantly.
When we glance into the future, we can potentially see the likes of Dubois battling it out with Germany’s Agit Kabayel (who beat Cuban heavyweight Frank Sanchez last time out), Martin Bakole, (who defeated American prospect Jared Anderson so impressively in August), talented Uzbekistani Bakhodir Jalolov (who stepped away from pro boxing to win a second Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer) and perhaps even Moses Itauma, who turns 20 next week and knocked out Australia’s Demsey McKean within two minutes of their bout in Riyadh on the undercard of Usyk v Fury. It was supposed to be a step-up fight for the highly rated Brit but promoter Frank Warren will have to find a far bigger step to challenge a fighter who looks to have huge potential as a future world champion.
None of these names represent the kind of megafights to match Usyk v Fury or even Fury v Joshua, but maybe we have to accept that we are about to enter a less celebrated era in the heavyweight division. Sport runs in cycles, and we are emerging from one that has delivered some superb fights in the highest-profile event of them all.
The next era will take time to evolve and poses a big challenge to all those names above to match what we have seen in recent years. At present, it’s hard to see that happening, or who leads it with the kind of personality, supreme intelligence and skill we have seen from the likes of Usyk and Fury, but with the Ukrainian hanging around for now, and Fury possibly doing the same, there is time yet for the next batch to come through. The clock is certainly ticking, though.
(Top photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
