Tyson Fury will announce who his next opponent is next week with Oleksandr Usyk preferring a matchup next year.
Usyk has slammed Fury’s trash talk, after the Gypsy King accused the Ukrainian of ‘running’ and ‘hiding’ from their expected world title unification bout.
The WBO, WBA and IBF champion has appeared to rule out the prospect of the unification fight happening before the end of the year due to injuries and his desire to spend more time with family.
WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury will announce his next boxing fight next week
Fury revealed on Saturday at WWE’s ‘Clash At The Castle’ event in Wales that he’s announcing his next fight next week.
‘Usyk was calling me out after his last fight with [Anthony] Joshua,’ he said in a press conference.
‘I’ve replied, I’ve said let’s do the fight this year, wherever they want to to do it.
Oleksandr Usyk has claimed Fury would be ‘silent’ in person following the Gypsy King’s trash talk on social media in which he said the Ukrainian was ‘hiding’ from a unification match
‘I’ve been waiting for offers from countries to come forward and all of a sudden Usyk has stated he doesn’t want to fight anymore. He wants to fight next year, not this year.
‘I’m not going to wait around for anybody. I’m going to be announcing a fight next week.’
The Gypsy King vowed to ‘obliterate’ Usyk in a social media post on Friday, and mockingly labelled him as a ‘middleweight’.
Usyk in response said Fury ‘likes to talk,’ and suggested the Gypsy King would remain quiet if they ever came face to face with a cryptic message.
As reported by Sky Sports, Usyk said: ‘All the fanciful comments against me, he probably thinks it will touch me. But it won’t
Usyk is confident that a heavyweight title unification bout with the Gypsy King will go ahead
‘I take it like the crow arguing with the wolf sitting from the tree, the reality is that if the crow was close to the wolf, she would keep silent.
‘Tyson Fury loves to talk. All of that blah blah blah.’
Fury in his Twitter video on Friday told Usyk to ‘come out and fight’ in December.
However, Usyk has appeared to rule out the prospect of the unification fight happening in 2022.
Usyk though is confident the fight will go ahead, stating that Fury ‘wants to fight him,’ ‘wants people to talk about him’ and ‘wants to earn money’.
After retaining his titles with a split-decision win over Anthony Joshua in Saudi Arabia last month, Usyk said that facing Fury was the ‘only’ bout that he is interested in.
WBC champion Fury had confirmed his retirement from boxing only 10 days earlier, having last fought and beat Dillian Whyte in April.
Usyk retained his WBA, WBO and IBF titles with a split-decision win over Anthony Joshua
However, the Gypsy King seemed enticed by the prospect of an undisputed showdown if paid enough and declared ‘get your f***ing cheque book out and I will relieve the Ukrainian dosser of the belts’.
In the video on Friday, he said: ‘Usyk, middleweight, you say you want the WBC and it’s held by gypsies,’ Fury said in a video he shared on social media.
‘It is held by gypsies, it’s held by the Gypsy King and it’s held tightly, grasped tight and all roads lead to a seven-foot behemoth who will absolutely destroy you, middleweight.
‘Middleweight, you will get smashed to bits. You said you wanted to fight me after you beat the bodybuilder [Joshua], called me out on television and now you’re being a little b**** p**** boy running, hiding, saying you’ve got injuries. You ain’t got no injuries, you had a sparring contest.
Fury leveled Austin Theory with a haymaker as he tried to cash in ‘Money in the Bank’ contract
Fury previously beat WWE wrestler Braun Strowman in a WWE Saudi Arabia event back in 2018
‘Get out and fight in December, you let your mouth go, now back it up. Let’s see if you can back it up, middleweight. It doesn’t matter if it’s December or April or August next year, the outcome will be the same; I will obliterate you.
‘I’m a seven-foot, 20-stone behemoth and I will destroy you, middleweight. Find your balls and come see me, b****.’
Usyk joined Ukraine’s territorial defence forces in February following Russia’s invasion of his homeland before he began his training camp for his rematch against Joshua.
Fury would not rule out a permanent move to WWE in the future.
‘At the moment I am a heavyweight world champion and I have lots of fights I have to take care of in the next few years,’ Fury added.
‘I have a passion for WWE. Never say never (on a permanent move to WWE). Triple H is here and I would definitely be open to it in the future for sure.’
WWE chief content officer Triple H added: ‘Whenever Tyson Fury finishes his work in the boxing ring, probably as the world heavyweight champion retiring undefeated, whenever he does that the door is always open for him and we would love to do business with him.’
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