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The reigning WBC World Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury will fight on the 29th of April at Wembley Stadium.
For months now, rumours have been circulating about a Fury vs Usyk fight in Saudi Arabia, with the Jeddah Stadium the obvious choice of venue. However, it has been confirmed that the venue won’t be ready on the 29th of April, meaning that Fury vs Usyk cannot happen in Saudi Arabia this April.
Adding to this, information has come out that Tyson Fury’s team have booked Wembley Stadium for April 29th. With a mandatory defence of his WBC World Heavyweight Championship required before the end of April, it appears as though Fury will be fighting at Wembley Stadium on April 29th—but the big question is, who will it be against?
Fury vs Usyk at Wembley Stadium 29th April
The hope of boxing fans around the world will be that the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world since the 1990s will still be crowned on the 29th of April.
However, the move to Wembley Stadium is not good news for the chances of this fight happening. While Fury has already given his word that he will fight Usyk in the first quarter of 2023, it appears as though Usyk has made a separate deal guaranteeing that he will fight in Saudi Arabia for his next fight. If Usyk agrees to the change in venue, he will likely be sacrificing a significant purse. Will the Ukrainian do so, in order to become the undisputed heavyweight champion?
According to promotor Jeff Powell, “The Gypsy King’s preference for the venue has always been Wembley, for his British fans even though richer mega-millions purses for both fighters are on offer in the Saudi Kingdom.”
Powell has stated that, “If an agreement with Usyk cannot be reached, Fury would be likely to fight there on April 29 against a designated challenger.” The deadline for a decision is the end of this week.
Who Will Fury Fight Next If Usyk Declines?
There is a good chance that Oleksandr Usyk won’t agree to the title fight being pushed to Wembley Stadium. Sentiment in the boxing community is that Fury is making matters difficult, in the same way that he did before tanking his fight against Anthony Joshua previously.
Should Usyk decline to fight at Wembley, then Fury will still need to set a fight in order to defend his WBC belt. Chances are, this will either be against UFC star Francis Ngannou, or fellow heavyweight Joseph Parker.
Parker and Fury are good friends, and while Parker has previously had a title fight against Anthony Joshua in 2018, his career has been on the decline since losing that match. Losses to Dillian Whyte and Joe Joyce have followed for the Kiwi, and most recently he won a mediocre decision over newly minted heavyweight Jack Massey. However, Fury has a habit of setting fights with his friends (read: Dereck Chisora), and it would likely be a straight forward occurrence.
The other option, Francis Ngannou, is something that Fury has also been vocal about wanting to do. The UFC star has dominated heavyweight mixed martial arts, and has now begun training in purely boxing. Fury’s primary challenge here would be getting the fight sanctioned, so that the bout can be more than an exhibition and count as a WBC title defence.
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