Welcome to The Red Corner, a brand new boxing and MMA column brought to you by the Amarillo Pioneer, covering the world of boxing and mixed martial arts. This column will bring you news, opinions, and quick facts that you need to know about the fights that make the sports world pay attention.
Despite a few strong moments by former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on Saturday night, Tyson Fury showed the world why he is perhaps the best heavyweight on the planet, dismantling Wilder to score his second knockout victory over the former champion in his last two fights.
While I believe it is more than fair to say that Fury might be the best heavyweight on the planet — and quite honestly, I would argue that he is — there is still one man left on Fury’s road to cementing himself as boxing’s best big man: Oleksandr Usyk.
For those unfamiliar with the lightning fast Ukrainian, Usyk made a name for himself as an Olympian and as boxing’s undisputed cruiserweight champion. Despite reigning supreme in the cruiserweight division, Usyk gave up his belts in 2019 to move up to heavyweight, hoping to follow in the footsteps of another boxing icon, Evander Holyfield, in his quest to successfully make the jump from cruiserweight champion to heavyweight champion. Following two lackluster victories over Chazz Witherspoon — a late replacement for former Glory light heavyweight kickboxing title challenger Tyrone Sprong — and Derek Chisora, Usyk went on to thoroughly dismantle unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua last month to claim four of the six major boxing titles in the weight class.
Here’s the state of the current heavyweight division: Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are the only two men with belts in this division. Wilder has essentially been eliminated from title contention and Joshua, despite having the legal right to rematch Usyk, seems to be a step behind the Ukrainian technician.
Now is the moment for boxing to make its best fight at heavyweight and pit Usyk and Fury against one another for all six heavyweight boxing titles. It is time to crown a undisputed heavyweight boxing champion and prove who is the baddest man on the planet inside of the four ropes of the ring.
Still, I would caution boxing fans to be careful about holding your breath for this fight to get made. Fury could have an obligation to defend his WBC title if the winner of the October 30 bout between Dillian Whyte and Otto Wallin is designated a mandatory challenger. And Usyk has a contractual obligation to fight Joshua again.
But, once these two fights are out of the way, the only focus should be getting Usyk and Fury in the ring with one another. It’s past time to crown an undisputed champion in the heavyweight division and what a fight it would be to crown a champion in a battle of two ring technicians like Usyk and Fury.