Source: eurosport.com/BY PETE SHARLAND
When Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk go head-to-head for four belts they will be going for a shot at a unique piece of history, according to the former’s manager Frank Warren who believes that the fight will be very special.
Fury and Usyk will go for the first four-belt battle in history and unsurprisingly Warren is backing his fighter, who he called the best heavyweight of his generation.
Tyson Fury’s manager and promoter Frank Warren has told TNT Sports that he believes that the British heavyweight’s unification fight against Oleksandr Usyk is not just boxing history, it’s just sporting history.
Fury and Usyk are set to fight for a world-first four belts on Saturday May 18 in Riyadh which you can watch live on TNT Sports Box Office.
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the fight Warren tried to put into perspective just how big a fight this is.
He said: “People reinvent history all the time and it annoys me, and in boxing maybe they find an easy target, but this is a great fight, both as I said undefeated and both in their prime, four belts on the line, first time there’s been a unification this century.
“It’s the first time there’s been a unification for the four belts ever, this is history, this is real boxing history, and sporting history.
“You go back to Jack Jones, Jack Dempsey, Rocky Marciano, Lennox Lewis, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Mike Tyson, all these guys were the probably most famous sportsmen on the planet at that particular moment in time, all of them were.
“Because as much – in the UK we’ve got our national sports, pretty well-defined – but around the world everyone knows the heavyweight champion, and the heavyweight division is the blue ribbon division and that sets the tone for it all.
“And whomever wins this fight – and I believe my man will win it – he’ll be the number one.
“That’s the magnitude of this fight, it’s happening and it’s brilliant for boxing. And you know what else it’s brilliant for? British boxing.
“Who’d ever have thought it? When I started out in boxing I remember all those years ago when I was kid watching the fights, British heavyweights were good heavyweights but none of them could do it. And look where we are now.”
Unsurprisingly as his manager and promoter Warren had strong praise for Fury, saying that he thinks we use the best of him when he’s a bit of an underdog.
“I feel Tyson’s the best heavyweight of his generation, when he goes into a fight, and there’s a bit of doubt that’s when he shines,” he added.
“He went to Germany and beat [Wladimir] Klitschko and he was a massive underdog, when he went to the States twice on the trot he was the outsider, [Deontay] Wilder was the big favourite and he’s done that each time.”
Warren also went on to add that he believes that Fury will be in the conversation for one of the greats, particularly if he beats Usyk.
He explained: “Absolutely he’s in it if he wins [conversation as one of the greats] because he’s beaten the best heavyweight of his generation in Wladimir Klitschko, he’s beaten a guy in Wilder who was statistically the hardest punching heavyweight out there in the last 40, 50 years. He’s done all of that
“So this is a big fight for him, he says he doesn’t care about legacy and all that, I hope that he does, he just wants to win. Like I said to him, the glory of being that guy, wherever you go and you’re introduced as the four belts, undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the best of your generation, that’s it mate you’re in the record books.
“Everybody associated will love it and he will grow into that when he retires, because he’s going to have to retire one day and when he retires that will all fall into play for him and he will thoroughly deserve it.”