WBC champion Tyson Fury may only hold one of the four recognized world championships at heavyweight, but he's universally accepted as the top man in the sport's most prestigious division. With being "the man" comes a host of complications, however, and Fury's immediate future is one loaded with possibilities and obscured by potential complications.
While all eyes are on a four-belt unification bout with Oleksandr Usyk, both men likely have business to take care of before potentially facing off. And handling that business with mandatory opponent Dillian Whyte is proving complicated in the simple act of getting both men to put pen to paper.
With that in mind, let's take a look at where things stand with the sport's best big man early in 2022.
Will Tyson Fury have a chance to unify the heavyweight titles in 2022?It's all very much up in the air currently. There are two paths that could lead to a unification bout with WBO, WBA and IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk. First, Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) can grant a fight to WBC mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte while waiting for Usyk and Anthony Joshua to rematch -- Joshua had a contractually-guaranteed rematch after Usyk beat him to capture the belts. Or, Joshua could take step-aside money to allow the unification bout to go ahead. All four sanctioning bodies would happily bump aside any mandatory opponents in favor of a four-belt unification bout.
Reports emerged that Joshua had agreed to a $15 million payout to step aside with a guarantee he would then fight the winner of Fury vs. Usyk. Joshua has since pushed back on those reports.
On reports @anthonyjoshua has agreed to deal to allow Fury-Usyk, here's what AJ says: "I’m hearing people saying AJ accepts £15 million to step aside. I ain’t signed no contract, I ain’t seen no contract. So, as it stands, stop listening to the bullshit until it comes from me."
— Dan Rafael (@DanRafael1) January 24, 2022
Whyte once spent more than 1,000 days as mandatory challenger to the WBC championship, eventually losing his status when he was shockingly knocked out by Alexander Povetkin in August 2020. Whyte would avenge that loss in March 2021, regaining the WBC interim title and his status as "next man up." Unfortunately for Whyte, there have constantly been bigger fights the WBC was willing to accept rather than enforcing his status as mandatory over the past several years.
This being boxing, the WBC has alternated between ordering Fury vs. Whyte to finally happen, suggesting they'd allow Fury to accept a non-title fight next and moving back to ordering a purse bid with an unprecedented 80/20 split in favor of Fury. That purse split is an issue for Whyte and his promoter, Eddie Hearn, has said a deal will not get done with that split in place. The purse bid has been postponed multiple times with the WBC now saying Jan. 26 is the final date for the two sides to reach a deal before a purse bid is held.
What other names could be on the table?UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou: Let's get this out of the way up front. Despite the talk from both Ngannou and Fury, this fight is not happening in the near future. Ngannou is in a contractual dispute with the UFC that could drag out a year or more. In addition, Ngannou's coaches have suggested it would take years of dedicated boxing training to be ready for such a challenge. Not to mention that after his most recent win, Ngannou noted that he suffered a torn MCL and injured ACL in training camp that will require surgery. Still, as both sides continue to bring up the other, a potential fight will keep grabbing headlines.
Robert Helenius: At one point, Bob Arum said the WBC had granted a special dispensation for Fury to fight in a non-title bout for his next outing. Helenius was one of the two names floated at that point. If the Whyte situation falls apart, Helenius could get an opportunity to cash in on his career-high momentum after back-to-back dominant wins over Adam Kownacki.
Andy Ruiz Jr.: Ruiz was the other name mentioned in the non-title situation. As the WBC's No. 3 ranked heavyweight, he could easily get a call if Fury is in need of an opponent, whether for the belt or not.
Expected date to returnLate March was the original plan for Fury's next fight. Of course, that was before the
