Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk have agreed to fight each other in an undisputed heavyweight championship bout early next year, according to promoter Bob Arum.
Fury called out the undefeated Usyk following his victory over Dereck Chisora this month, but the Ukrainian has since been ordered to meet Daniel Dubois in a defence of his WBA title.
But Arum, who is Fury’s co-promoter, is confident a fight can be held in the first four months of next year, without either champion needing to take a bout in the interim.
He told Sky Sports: "The two fighters have agreed to fight each other next. With Fury and Usyk we’re dealing with two adults, not a lot of [rubbish] back and forth. Usyk is a good friend of mine, he’s very intelligent and Tyson is Superman, both as an athlete and as an intellect.
"So they want the fight. Both of them want the fight and so there’ll be very little, if any, [messing] around. So we’ll be able to make that happen. I’m very, very confident. As I said the fighters have both agreed to fight each other next without any interim fights."
Arum added that the fight could still be held in the UK, with the American suggesting Wembley Stadium as a “wonderful” venue. The fight is expected to be held in Saudi Arabia if it goes ahead, however.
"Now the question is what’s the date and what’s the site," Arum added. "But that fight is definitely going to happen and it will happen in the first four months of next year.
"We are balancing a couple of significant offers from the Middle East and also there’s the possibility of doing the fight in the UK at Wembley with a massive 95,000 crowd in attendance.
"Fighters have a relatively short life and money is important. So if the money which has been proposed to us is real, that has to be taken into consideration."
