Lords of the ring walk

Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk created history this year

- ALEX PATTLE

It is a surreal thing to see history unfold in real time before it has yet become history. That was the experience of watching Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk’s first clash, from ringside, as they warred over the right to be called undisputed heavyweight champion.

It was a title that no man had held in 24 years – not since Lennox Lewis gave up one of his belts, a year after beating Evander Holyfield.

A year before Fury and Usyk first shared a ring, on 18 May 2024, they seemed to be on the verge of agreeing to a bout. Petty squabbles over money, when each man was already guaranteed a life-changing amount, delayed the fight. “Delayed” is the word we can use now; at the time, it appeared the fight might have been lost forever.

It was then signed in autumn 2023, to take place this February, but with Fury first facing Francis Ngannou – a former UFC champion, a boxing debutant. Despite the Cameroonian’s inexperience in the boxing ring, Fury scorned the decision to announce his fight with Usyk before he had even beaten Ngannou.

Fury was right to be wary but it was seemingly a superstitious feeling; he had not been wary enough of Ngannou to train properly, it appeared, as the mixed martial artist dropped Fury in the early rounds – in one of the most shocking scenes in boxing history. That is no hyperbole.