Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury have finally finalized a fight for the undisputed heavyweight crowd, with the bout set to take place August 14 in Saudi Arabia.
Fury announced the fight on Twitter, calling it “the biggest sporting event ever to grace the planet Earth” and promising to take back what belongs to him.
- Tyson Fury record: 30-0-1, current WBC heavyweight champion
- Anthony Joshua record: 24-1, holds IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight titles
Fury won his first world championship in 2015, ending the 10-year reign of unified IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko. Unfortunately, mental health issues and alcohol addiction forced him to step away from boxing.
He returned to the ring three years later and landed a fight against WBC champion Deontay Wilde. The bout ended in a draw although most will argue he deserved to win the judges’ decision. Fury landed a rematch against Wilder in 2020, delivering his first defeat and winning the WBC heavyweight title.
Joshua won his first world championship in April 2016, beating Charles Martin to become the IBF heavyweight champion. One year later, after two successful title defenses, Joshua unified his IBF belt with the WBA and IBO beating Wladimir Klitschko.
After two years of successful title defense, Joshua’s reign was abruptly ended when he suffered his first professional loss in an upset knockout to Andy Ruiz Jr. Joshua was able to regain the belt in a rematch later in the year.
This fight will see an undisputed heavyweight champion crowned for the first time since 1999 when Lennox Lewis was the undisputed IBF, WBA, and WBC heavyweight champion. This will be just the third undisputed title fight since 2007 when the official criteria for an undisputed champion added that a fighter needed to win the WBO belt along with the IBF, WBA and WBC belts in a given weight class.
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The most recent undisputed champion in boxing since Oleksandr Usyk won the undisputed cruiserweight championship in 2018 moving up to heavyweight the following year after a successful title defense.