Fury: None of My Concern Where The Other Belts Are, As Long As Mine Are Strapped Around My Waist

There was a 19-month stretch where all the relevant heavyweight hardware resided in the United Kingdom.

Oleksandr Usyk changed that dynamic on September 25, earning a twelve-round, unanimous decision win over England’s Anthony Joshua to claim the WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO heavyweight belts. Manchester’s own Tyson Fury still holds the lineal/WBC crowns and—along with his upcoming trilogy clash with Deontay Wilder—really isn’t worried about much else beyond that.

“It’s none of my real concern about where the other belts are, as long as mine are strapped around my waist,” Fury admitted during a recent Zoom media conference call to otherwise discuss his October 9 showdown with Wilder at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “The rest of them, I don’t care where they go.”

Fury (30-0-1, 21KOs) was once linked to a long-discussed undisputed heavyweight championship with countryman Joshua (24-2, 22KOs). The bout was rumored to take place August 14, though never coming to fruition once an arbitration ruling left Fury on the hook to proceed with his contractually bound third fight with Alabama’s Wilder (42-1-1, 41KOs).

The upcoming fight—which will air live on a Pay-Per-View jointly presented by ESPN+ and Fox Sports—comes 20 months after Fury scored a one-sided seventh round stoppage of Wilder to win the WBC/lineal titles. Joshua had just regained the WBA/IBF/WBO/IBO titles from Andy Ruiz less than three months prior. Fury’s win left U.K. fans hopeful of an all-British showdown which would have guaranteed the nation’s first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis following his win over Evander Holyfield in their November 1999 rematch.

In order for Fury to earn that status, he will first have to get past Wilder once again and then either immediately pursue Ukraine’s Usyk (19-0, 13KOs) or wait out the winner of a likely Usyk-Joshua rematch. Either way is fine to the unbeaten 33-year-old, who doesn’t plan on leaving his place atop the heavyweight division anytime soon.

“There’s only one man who can clear them all up again and bring them back and that’s me,” Fury insisted of one day becoming undisputed champion. “It really only has been me. I’m sick of saying it. There only ever has been one and can only ever be one. Me—the Gypsy King!”

Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox