You may not be buying Tyson Fury’s handful of retirement announcements this year, the most recent of which came late last week after reports of a potential fight with Derek Chisora in December, and you wouldn’t be alone. I don’t buy it. Bob Arum doesn’t buy it. Most people probably don’t.
The Ring have accepted that he’s vacated their heavyweight championship, though, and the vacant title will now be on the line for this coming Saturday’s rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua.
Usyk (19-0, 13 KO) will also be defending the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles against Joshua (24-2, 22 KO), the man he beat to take them in Sept. 2021.
The rematch will be taking place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Sky Box Office will have the fight on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom, and DAZN are expected to carry it elsewhere, including the U.S., though as of this moment that still isn’t fully official or announced.
For note, and for the people who care about boxing’s hilarious “lineal” claims, this doesn’t necessarily fill any “lineal” vacancy. It could be recognized as such, but it’s no guarantee; the Ring belt and the lineal claim are not always one and the same, and there is much dispute among people who care about this.
I am not one of them, though, because the entire thing no matter whose word you’re going with, the reality of it all is so far from its alleged “the fighter who beat the fighter who beat the fighter” credibility that it’s ridiculous, but if you care, there you go.