Tyson Fury's Call-Out to Oleksandr Usyk: A Heavyweight Showdown?
Tyson Fury has gone back to an old rival. Oleksandr Usyk has sent him straight back where he came from.
As the all-British heavyweight blockbuster with Anthony Joshua stalls yet again over venue wrangling, Fury took to social media on Monday and declared he was “looking for a new opponent”. His solution: a third fight with the man who beat him twice and walked away as undisputed champion.
Usyk’s camp wasted no time shutting that door.
“Usyk is not Tyson's backup plan”
Speaking to Sky Sports News, Usyk’s manager Sergey Lapin cut through the noise with a blunt message.
“Usyk is not Tyson's backup plan,” he said, making it clear the Ukrainian will not be used as a convenient escape route while Fury’s Joshua talks drag on.
“If Fury needs an opponent, he should visit the Ready to Fight platform. They can help him find a worthy opponent there.
“Oleksandr is always open to big challenges. But serious intentions are backed by a concrete offer, not statements in the press.”
No promise. No hint of negotiations. Just a reminder: real fights are made at the table, not on Instagram.
Fury turns up the volume
The timing of Fury’s call-out is no coincidence. His long-discussed showdown with Joshua — more than a decade in the making — has once again hit a familiar snag: where to stage it.
Both heavyweights have signed individual contracts for a proposed November date, but the location remains unresolved. New York City has been floated. Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has publicly pushed for London. Fury, as ever, has framed the delay as avoidance from the other side.
Into that stalemate, Fury launched his latest social media salvo, this time aimed not only at Joshua, but at Joshua’s new ally — and former conqueror — Usyk.
“This will only lead me to a fight with Oleksandr Usyk,” Fury said in a video posted on Instagram.
He leaned into the dynamic that has fascinated the division over the past year: Usyk, the man who beat Joshua twice, now working inside Joshua’s camp.
“Oleksandr you're his [Joshua's] trainer and his sensei and you know he is weak minded... and that he would never fight the Gypsy King which you have had the guts to do twice.
“You got the decisions last time, fair play to you. Good luck to you, let's do it again. Let's run it back in November. The ball is now in your court... do you want to fight me this year, 2026, or are you calling it quits?
“Let me know because I am now looking for a new opponent.”
The pitch was clear: if Joshua won’t step up, Usyk can step back in.
Usyk’s next move
The problem for Fury is that Usyk’s career is not on hold for him.
The 39-year-old Ukrainian announced in June that he was vacating the three heavyweight belts he still held, ending his reign as undisputed champion but stopping short of retirement. He insisted he was not done with the sport and has since been linked with a potential clash against Deontay Wilder.
Usyk walks away from the championship throne with a pristine 25-0 professional record, built on technical brilliance and iron composure. He dethroned Joshua in 2021, then beat him again in 2022, before doing what many thought impossible: outboxing Fury twice in 2024 to unify the division.
Now, in a twist few would have predicted when they first met, Usyk has become part of Joshua’s training team over the last year. The former tormentor turned teacher, sharpening the tools of the very man Fury accuses of running from him.
That triangle — Fury chasing Joshua, Joshua learning from Usyk, Usyk being called out by Fury — is where the heavyweight soap opera now sits.
A heavyweight puzzle with no clear answer
Fury wants a dance partner for November. Joshua wants London. Speculation points to New York. Usyk wants serious offers, not soundbites. Wilder lurks in the background as a live option for the Ukrainian.
The belts are scattered again. The politics are thick. The egos are even thicker.
What’s clear is this: Fury’s attempt to drag Usyk back into a trilogy has, for now, been firmly rebuffed. If the “Gypsy King” can’t pin Joshua down and can’t tempt Usyk back without a contract on the table, the next move in this fractured heavyweight era will define more than just one night in November.
It may decide who actually runs the division when the talking finally stops.
