Tyson Fury is expecting to have the “biggest year” of his career yet in 2023.
Fury defended his WBC heavyweight title when he halted Derek Chisora at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in 10 rounds on Saturday.
Now Fury is coming for all the other major titles that are currently outside of his possession. Those three belts are all held by Oleksandr Usyk and the Ukrainian was at Fury’s fight in London this weekend to face the rival heavyweight champion.
That undisputed championship clash with Usyk is the fight Fury wants in the first quarter of 2023.
It’s the contest the Ukrainian too is looking to make. That is the fight which would pit the two best heavyweights in the world against each other and it would be a hugely anticipated bout.
“Yes, that’s true,” Usyk told Sky Sports News. “The whole of Great Britain, the United Kingdom, the whole world, especially Ukraine, everyone wants to see this fight happening.”
Fury still has a back up plan if a deal to take on Usyk cannot be closed. He also has a big fight with Joe Joyce in his sights. Joyce was in attendance himself in Tottenham and like Usyk he took his chance to jump into the ring afterwards to call out Fury.
Tyson Fury is a formidable heavyweight champion (Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty Images)
“There’s plenty more to come. Let me say there’s a lot of big fights to happen next year,” Fury told Sky Sports News.
“I said if Usyk can’t be made early next year, we’ll take Joe Joyce at Wembley and sell out another 90,000 tickets here in the UK, the capital of sports entertainment in the world.
“Look at these fans, they just keep coming out,” Fury continued. “It’s a special moment [to fill a 60,000 seat stadium]. Tough times, outdoors in December as well, it’s a hard sell. But look at these fans, they’re unbelievable.”
His plans for the immediate future include supporting the national football team in the World Cup.
“Now England’s got to do it on Sunday and bring it home. It’s coming home, come on England,” he said.
“I’m going to watch England tomorrow against Senegal and if they get through Senegal then I’m over to Qatar.”
Fury lashes Derek Chisora with a right cross (Photo: Mikey Williams/Top Rank Inc via Getty)
‘Joyce a tougher fight than Usyk’
Fury intends to have a spectacular year in 2023.
“We’re going to get those big fights. First of all let’s talk about Usyk. Before everyone wanted to ask me a million questions about Usyk when I had Chisora to beat. As we’ve seen [on Saturday], Chisora’s no easy pushover for anybody. I’m ready and willing to take on Usyk next, whether it’s in Saudi Arabia or back here in the UK,” Fury said afterwards.
“Let’s give the fans one champion, one name, one face. Usyk’s up for the challenge. He came over tonight so fair play to him. He’s not an easy boxer to figure out – he’s a slick, southpaw mover, with very good skills, Olympic gold medallist and he comes in good form. So I’m really looking forward to the challenge.
However he added: “The big fights sometimes don’t happen for whatever reason. But I’ve got a good feeling this one’s going to happen. But if it doesn’t for X, Y or Z reasons, then we’ll have Joe Joyce at Wembley next year.”
If it is to be Usyk first, as Fury hopes, he’s still open to fighting Joyce later in the year. “But provided Usyk does happen, I’ll do him then I’ll have Joe Joyce as well at Wembley, why not?” Fury said.
He rates Joyce highly. In fact Fury suggested he would be a harder opponent for him than Usyk.
Fury hails his supporters in Tottenham (Photo: Queensberry Promotions)
“People have been asking me, ‘Who’s the tougher fight, Usyk or Joyce?’ And in my opinion, Usyk’s the slicker boxer but Joe Joyce is the ‘Juggernaut’ and I think that Joe is a tougher fight than Usyk, 100 per cent,” Fury said.
“Big Joe, six foot seven and 19½ stone, like a juggernaut moving forward at me, trying to smash me to pieces or Usyk trying to steal a jab running round the ring, trying to nick a point here and there.
“So I think that Usyk is a very good fighter, I’m not going to take anything away from him, he was the undisputed cruiserweight champion and he’s the unified heavyweight champion, so he’s had a fantastic career. I think I’m going to do a job on him,” he added.
“I want to prove it. So let’s get that one on. But like I say I do think the biggest challenge out there for me is Joe Joyce.
Oleksandr Usyk steps into the ring to call out Fury (Photo: Queensberry Promotions)
“If I fight Usyk then maybe Joe could fight (Deontay) Wilder,” Fury mused. “Who wouldn’t want to see that? Who wouldn’t want to see the world’s toughest man take on the world’s biggest puncher?
Fury did not expect Anthony Joshua to feature in his plans for the new year.
“Usyk came here tonight to do a fight. Ringside, stood there, got in my face. He wants to fight,” Fury explained. “Even big Joe thought he was going to join that party.
“Gatecrashed that party, [thinking,] ‘I want a piece of this.’
Chisora holds out his arms against Tyson Fury
“In all these years, we live in the same country has anyone ever, ever seen AJ do that to me, get in my face, say let’s fight?”
Fury was relieved to see Chisora eventually be pulled out of their bout on Saturday. In his personal view, it’s a good moment for Chisora to call time on his career.
“I can’t speak for any other man, I can’t make decisions for anybody Derek will make his own decisions,” Fury said. “Because he’s a legend of this game. In British boxing he’s like a folk hero… For me, I’d love to see him retire.”
It soon turned into a punishing fight for Chisora (Photo: AP Photo/Ian Walton)
The WBC champion has wrestled with his own views on retiring. He cannot quite bring himself to stop yet, certainly not while he can pack out stadiums full of fans relishing his work.
His eyes still lit up when he described the peculiar joy of fighting. “I said to the boys in the changing room, I really, really love where I am,” he explained.
“This is my comfort zone. 60,000 people screaming your name and you’ve got to go fight one-on-one with somebody. Yes, that’s where I thrive, that’s my life. That’s what I live for.”
Fury knows though he cannot fight on forever. “We’re all blood and bone,” he said heavily.
“We’ll see, one fight at a time. That’s all we can do.”