Tyson Fury may face the prospect of having to fight to defend the WBC title, but is the opponent Anthony Joshua and is that the “English civil war” of his dreams?
According to plan, Tyson Fury will fight a classic title unification match with Oleksandr Usyk on May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after the February 17 match was postponed due to Fury tearing his eyelid. Fury currently holds the WBC belt, while Usyk holds the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts.
It is almost certain that the Fury – Usyk match will have a “part 2” this year, because the contract between the two punches has a clause allowing the loser to trigger a rematch immediately afterward.
The head of the prestigious boxing organization WBC, Mauricio Sulaiman, announced that the agency “accepts the Fury – Usyk rematch”. Sulaiman said, WBC will wait for Fury – Usyk to fight both matches (if any) and then arrange the WBC title defense match for the new absolute champion of world heavyweight boxing. And the head of the WBC did not hide his desire to see it be a fight between Tyson Fury – Anthony Joshua.
“WBC accepts their (Fury – Usyk) request for a rematch. If there are no problems with contracts, or negotiations with promotional companies (promotions, boxer representatives), we will complete it.” Fully agree to let the winner of the Fury match – Usyk fight Anthony Joshua,” Mauricio Sulaiman confirmed.
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Tyson Fury was present in Saudi Arabia to witness Anthony Joshua knock out Francis Ngannou last Saturday
As for Anthony Joshua, the former world champion has expressed his intention more than once to “fight to the end” with “his arch-compatriot” Tyson Fury. A week ago, Joshua knocked out Francis Ngannou after just 2 rounds. That was Joshua’s fourth consecutive victory and now this 34-year-old boxer is even more eager to regain the prestigious belts as well as the world No. 1 position he achieved twice in the past.
But in addition to Joshua, in case Tyson Fury retains the WBC title after his match with Usyk, this 35-year-old puncher is also likely to have to defend the title against another formidable opponent.
It is known that the puncher currently ranked 2nd in the WBC heavyweight rankings right behind Fury, Frank Sanchez, has been assigned to fight Agit Kabayel (ranked 4th). This will be a match where the winner will become the designated challenger for the title against the boxer holding the WBC title.
Frank Sanchez is ranked 2nd in the WBC heavyweight rankings and has animpressive undefeated record
Frank Sanchez, 31 years old, holds the WBC Americas title with an impressive record of 24 wins, including 17 wins by knockout. The last time Frank Sanchez entered the ring was at the “Day of Reckoning” event on Christmas 2023, when Joshua also fought Otto Wallin. In that match, Sanchez technically knocked out Junior Fa in round 7.
Agit Kabayel is also in very good form with a series of 24 unbeaten matches, of which he won 16 matches by knockout. The 31-year-old German boxer also fought at the “Day of Reckoning” event nearly 3 months ago and won by technical knockout over Makhmudov in the 4th round, thereby winning the WBC North American title and the WBA Intercontinental title.
