The Boxing Truth®

In chapter one of the story between Heavyweight champions Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, the focus was centered on the element of history. After all, when the two undefeated champions met in May of this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was to determine something that hadn't been seen in Boxing in twenty-five years albeit and unfortunately temporarily. An Undisputed World Heavyweight champion and the first champion to successfully unify all five recognized world championships under one fighter. As most know, despite the historical significance of the occasion, there was the knowledge going into the event last May 18th that the new Undisputed championship would not last long. This was due to a pre-ordained rematch clause between Usyk and Fury and the International Boxing Federation being due its mandatory title defense in the rotation amongst the various sanctioning organizations immediately following the bout. Nevertheless, that knowledge did little to quell what truly was a specia...

  On September 21st, the Boxing world will converge on the legendary Wembley Stadium for a significant event in Boxing’s Heavyweight division. Before we can talk about this event, however, we must briefly go back to the recent history of the sport to the last major event in the Heavyweight division. This observer is referring to the much-anticipated unification bout between undefeated world champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, which took place in Saudi Arabia on May 18th. A unification bout, which saw Usyk emerge as the Undisputed Heavyweight champion of the world, becoming the first fighter in Boxing history to successfully unify all five major sanctioning organizations to become a fully undisputed champion. As monumental as that moment in history was in seeing the first undisputed champion in the division crowned in twenty-five years, an element of the business of the sport loomed over the occasion. The fact that there was both a mandatory rematch clause as well as a separate...

As this observer reflects on his almost three decades covering Boxing and other combat sports, there are times where I will ponder if an event I covered over that span of time could have been approached from a different angle. It is after all understandable when one writes columns and other forms of content in various mediums day after day, week after week, and yes, year after year, that while one should always stand behind their works and views, much like a film or television director, when one has the benefit to look back years later there may be a feeling that maybe though the work is still good, little tweaks here and there may have made things even better.  In previewing the encounter between undefeated Heavyweight champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk for the Undisputed Heavyweight championship of the world and one where for the first time in Boxing history, all five major sanctioning organizations would have their respective world championships on the line in a single bout...

In March 1999, Heavyweight champions Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis met in Madison Square Garden to unify three portions of the World Heavyweight championship. While there was the absence of the World Boxing Organization’s (WBO) championship at the time, the bout was viewed as being for the Undisputed Heavyweight championship of the world as the crowns of the World Boxing Council (WBC), the World Boxing Association (WBA), and the International Boxing Federation (IBF) the three oldest sanctioning organizations in the sport, and who were the only organizations in existence the last time the World Heavyweight championship had been fully unified in 1987, were on the line. The magnitude of the event, which was also heavily promoted, being in Madison Square Garden before a massive crowd was something that also made the occasion seem special. It did signal, or at least seemed to signal what had been a decade of political mess in the Heavyweight division. A decade, which began with Mike Ty...

Press Release: February 1, 2024 By DAZN -  Ring of Fire" (17 February 2024) tables Boxing’s two greatest heavyweight World Champions Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk to crown the division’s first undisputed champion since 1999. History-making fight and undercard available globally on DAZN as pay-per-view, including in the UK and US. Deal marks a strengthening in DAZN and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s long-term partnership.   LONDON, 1 February 2024 – The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s Riyadh Season and DAZN, the sports entertainment platform, today announce that “Ring of Fire” will be broadcast live on DAZN worldwide on 17 February.   "Ring of Fire” will see the biggest fight in boxing - WBC and Lineal Champion Tyson ‘The Gypsy King’ Fury vs WBO/IBF/WBA unified champion Oleksandr Usyk in a history-making showdown. The winner will become boxing’s first Undisputed Heavyweight Champion since Britain’s Lennox Lewis claimed that honour 24 years ago, in 1999, but this time four belts a...