ANTHONY JOSHUA will fill in for battered and bruised Tyson Fury and provide Saudi Arabia with a Christmas cracker next month.
The 35-year-old WBC Gypsy King was supposed to settle the undisputed decider with WBA, IBF and WBO boss Oleksandr Usyk on December 23 in Riyadh.
But he fluffed his lines at the October 28 rehearsal when he was floored by boxing debutant Francis Ngannou and needed some generous judging to cling on to his undefeated record.
But the boxing movers and Sheikhs in the Middle East were never going to let the date pass them by so they have packed out a card full of heavyweight challengers and contenders, while they wait for the main course.
AJ, 34, will take on giant Swedish southpaw Otto Wallin, who slashed a 49-stitch gash into Fury’s eye when they boxed in 2019.
And Bronze Bomber Deontay Wilder – another Fury victim – will face the Morecambe giant’s best pal and training partner Joseph Parker.
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SunSport understands the plan was for AJ to have another keep-warm fight in March and then launch a bid for the IBF heavyweight title, that will be stripped of the winner of the February showdown and up for grabs once again.
But the money on offer from the kingdom convinced Watford’s London 2012 legend to suspend his carefully-made plans and dive into the mega-money event.
That decision was confirmed on Monday when he posed for a photo with Turki Alalshikh, the new driving force behind the region’s entertainment and tourism takeover.
Daniel Dubois, the 26-year-old Londoner who lasted nine rounds with Usyk in August, is expected to face the awful American drugs cheat Jarrell Miller, who scoffed the periodic table before being booted off his planned 2019 bout with AJ.
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Fury and Usyk are expected to settle the score – and all four of the belts – on February 17 or 24 in the same Kingdom Arena.
A press conference to announce that iconic bout between the Brit and the former undisputed cruiserweight ruler is expected on Thursday.
But – after so many false dawns – Usyk will only really believe he is fighting Fury when the 6ft 9in behemoth is towering right over him.
The Ukrainian told us: “I want to finish my beautiful 20-year career and road with Tyson Fury. I need to fight him.
“But only when we have our Friday weigh-in and we wake up Saturday morning and travel to the venue, will I really believe it is happening.
“It’s about being the undisputed world champion at two weights, the two biggest weights.
“It’s not about money or belts. It’s about history.”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
