The world heavyweight champion is a title held by many great fighters throughout the history of boxing. It’s a title even the casual fan can relate to and respect. But, very rarely have we had an UNDISPUTED world heavyweight champion due to politics and sanctioning bodies, amongst other factors. But the time has finally come.
History often repeats itself
As we approach February 17, the eyes of the boxing world will be firmly fixed upon The Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, for the first undisputed world heavyweight championship boxing match of the 21st century. Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs), the WBC world heavyweight champion and lineal heavyweight champion, will face off against Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs), the unified WBA, WBO, IBF and RING magazine world heavyweight champion.
Almost a quarter of a century (November 13, 1999) has passed since we last crowned an undisputed world heavyweight. On this night, unified WBA, IBF and lineal world heavyweight champion Evander Holyfield faced off against WBC world heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis. Lewis defeated Holyfield by unanimous decision to take his titles and become the undisputed world heavyweight champion. This was the second fight between the pair, coming off a highly controversial split draw earlier in the year.
Similarly, Fury and Usyk have negotiated a two-fight deal with a two-way rematch clause in their contract. Another eerily similar detail is that both fights saw a former undisputed cruiserweight world champion moving up to heavyweight, winning a unified world heavyweight championship, and then going on to fight a bigger career heavyweight champion. One key point to note is that this will be the first undisputed heavyweight world champion crowned in the ‘four belt era,’ which refers to the four sanctioning bodies of the WBA, WBC, IBF & WBO.
It has been a long and drawn-out process from 1999 – 2024. It took 25 years to finally get to the point where we can definitively say we have an undisputed world heavyweight champion. In that time, however, we have had many notable heavyweight champions and memorable heavyweight championship contests all leading up to this moment.
In the 25 years between undisputed heavyweight world championship bouts, there have been 35 different world heavyweight championship reigns and four heavyweight world championship unification bouts. These four bouts are specifically when titles have been unified rather than defences of already unified championships. Specifically, Wladimir Klitschko unified the IBF world title with the WBO in 2008, defeating Sultan Ibragimov, and then went on to unify with the WBA in 2011, by defeating David Haye. After those two instances, it was Anthony Joshua who unified the IBF with the WBA in 2017, defeating Wladimir Klitschko and he then went on to win the WBO world heavyweight championship in 2018 in his victory over Joseph Parker.
Historic title reigns have also occurred during these 25 years, with notable reigns coming from fighters such as Klitschko, who made 18 successful title defenses between 2006 – 2015. Deontay Wilder, during his WBC world heavyweight championship reign, made a total of 10 successful defenses, with nine of these bouts ending in a knockout.
Anthony Joshua has also stamped his claim as one of the more influential heavyweights of this generation with two unification matchups and two world heavyweight championship reigns. He also had seven successful championship defences and a total of 12 heavyweight bouts between 2016 and 2022.
Interestingly, Fury ended both historic title reigns by Klitschko and Wilder. Fury defeated Klitschko by unanimous decision in 2015 and went on to defeat Wilder by technical knockout in 2020.
Enter Usyk. After becoming the undisputed WBA, WBC, WBO, IBF and RING Magazine world cruiserweight champion in 2018, he moved up to heavyweight in 2019 and became the mandatory challenger for the WBO heavyweight title. Eventually, he challenged Joshua for the unified titles and defeated him by unanimous decision. They then had a contractual rematch in which the RING Magazine title was also on the line, which was vacated by Fury, who had a mini-retirement of sorts in mid–2022. Usyk once again defeated Joshua, this time by split decision, adding the RING Magazine title to his haul.
We are now just under five weeks away from fight night for the undisputed world heavyweight championship between Fury and Usyk. Titled ‘Ring of Fire,’ the event is sure to be huge in spectacle and bring out many big names who will be more than ready to witness boxing history after being starved of one face, name, and champion for a quarter of a century.
Both men have looked vulnerable in their most recent outings, which adds more intrigue to the bout. Are Fury’s legs gone? Is Usyk’s body the key to stopping him? Many questions are being thrown around the boxing world, and we will soon have all the answers.
As already stated, history repeats itself. The best cruiserweight of this generation is moving up to face a career heavyweight bigger in height and weight with a claim to being the best heavyweight of this era already. This is true for both Holyfield vs. Lewis and Fury vs Usyk with their eerie similarities and the potential of a second fight: win, lose, or draw (we hope not).
Boxing immortality awaits one of these brilliant champions, and their name will forever be etched alongside the other heavyweight greats of the past. We all await the moment one of their hands is raised, and they will be crowned as the world’s UNDISPUTED heavyweight champion.
History will be made, and it is about time.
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