Any protest to have Tyson Fury relieved of his championship reign is a waste of energy.
Mixed reaction was met with the morning news that Fury will next face former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou in a sanctioned boxing match. The two will meet on October 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in accordance with traditional boxing rules to include three ringside judges who will score under the ten-point must system.
Fury (33-0-1, 24KOs) is the current WBC heavyweight champion, though the sanctioning body and his promoter Frank Warren both confirmed the belt will not be at stake. The hulking Brit was approved by the WBC to enter the novelty fight since he is not presently in the mandatory period of his title reign.
“Tyson Fury received special permission from the WBC to fight Francis Ngannou as there is no official challenger,” WBC president Mauricio Suilaman confirmed Tuesday afternoon.
Warren suggested that honest efforts were made for Fury to next face WBA, IBF and WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13KOs) in a unification bout that rapidly fell apart earlier this year. It was stated that desired showdowns versus former unified titlists Anthony Joshua (25-3, 22KOs) and Andy Ruiz also proved unsuccessful, which led to pursuing a crossover fight once Ngannou was confirmed to be out of contract with UFC.
“Fury tried to close fights against Ruiz, Joshua and Usyk but no agreement was reached,” noted Sulaiman in confirming the sanctioning body’s blessing for Fury to proceed with the non-title fight.
Fury’s last mandatory title defense came in a sixth-round knockout of countryman Dillian Whyte last April 23 at Wembley Stadium. Ngannou joined Fury, who claimed to be retired at the time but already welcomed the idea of such a fight.
The retirement was short-lived—and in reality, nonexistent. He was back in the ring last December 3 in a one-sided, tenth round stoppage of Derek Chisora in North London.
The WBC, meanwhile, hoped to move forward with a final title eliminator between Ruiz and former WBC titlist Deontay Wilder (43-2-1, 42KOs), both of whom won separate semifinal elimination bouts as part of a four-man box-off. The fight remains teased to this day, though without any real talk of whether a deal was reached and when it would take place.
As noted earlier, Ruiz attempted his own round of talks for a direct shot at Fury’s WBC and lineal championship. The gap in financial demands ended that conversation, as Ruiz has not fought since a twelve-round win over Luis Ortiz in their semifinal eliminator last September in Los Angeles.
The WBC will be expected to sort out the mandatory challenger status at least by the time Fury and Ngannou meet in late October. However, it remains clear that Fury will leave the ring with his championship reign still intact.
Jake Donovan is a senior writer for BoxingScene.com. Twitter: @JakeNDaBox