The last heavyweight fighter to unify the current belts was Lennox Lewis. On November 13, 1999, he defeated Evander Holyfield in their rematch for the unification that ended in a split decision draw eight months earlier.
Usyk, the current WBA, IBF and WBO heavyweight world champion, made Gandia his base of operations to prepare for this fight, originally scheduled for February 17 but postponed due to Fury being cut during training.
The Ukrainian, who has a home in Marbella, looked for a place that would guarantee him privacy. He found it in Gandia (Valencia). There he set up his own gym where he has recruited sparring partners through his Ready to Fight app.
Daily Mail has been with Usyk in Gandia. The fighter told them what his preparation has been like. He has undergone 15 three-and-a-half minute rounds with 20 seconds rest, racking up more than 250 rounds during the preparation camp. Each round, a different opponent for a total of 40.
“It has become much easier to find training partners since we launched Ready to Fight,” says Sergey Lapin, who runs Usyk’s camp and the app.
“Instead of calling 100 contacts trying to organise everything. Now it’s all on your phone. You have direct access to a manager or a fighter and everything is transparent. The vast majority of Usyk’s sparring partners were found through the app. They have come from different countries all over the world. Without the app it would have been difficult to find guys with the same weight, the same height, etc., as Fury,” says Lapin.
“Such a platform could democratise our sport and open doors for talented boxers from all over the world, wherever they live, whatever their background and financial means,” says Usyk.
Olympic gold before being the best boxer in the heavyweight class
Asked if a win over Fury would be his greatest triumph, Usyk surprises with his answer: “An Olympic gold medal is more important than anything else. The Olympics is a completely different competition. In my first one I lost in the second fight. When I came home, I thought about finishing as an amateur and turning professional. A friend told me to try again,” he explains.
At London 2012 he was a gold medallist.
“When it comes to a belt, if you don’t win it this year, maybe you can try again in six months, next year. Not four years,” he explains.