Several promoters headed to Panama as the World Boxing Association intended to listen to offers for the staging the championship fight, but all that proved academic as the date and venue were thrashed out for the four-belt clash.
Klitschko, 39, puts his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts on the line as the Ukrainian heads back to his favoured place at the heart of Europe on the back of his impressive victory over Bryant Jennings across the Atlantic in the USA last April. ‘Dr. Steelhammer’ will be just six months away from reigning as world champion for a masterful decade when he and Briton Fury trade blows in what will be the younger challenger’s first world title fight.
Fury, who is thirteen years Klitschko’s junior, has put together a 24-fight winning record, including 18 stoppages and now gets the chance the he’s always dream of since first lacing on the gloves as an amateur.
Attempts to give Fury home advantage ultimately proved too difficult a task and the former British, Irish, Commonwealth and European title holder will go into the bout a huge underdog to cause an upset and take away Klitschko’s gold haul.
In statement released just minutes after a deal was reached, Hennessy Sports said the following:
Hennessy Sports are delighted to announce that a deal has been struck for unbeaten WBA mandatory challenger Tyson Fury to challenge world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on October 24 in Dusseldorf, Germany.
The deal, sorted just minutes before purse bids were set to be open, paves the way for Klitschko and Fury to meet in the most exciting heavyweight clash of the year, UK television broadcaster TBC.
Klitschko, 64-3 (53 KOs), has long been considered the number one heavyweight in the world and hasn’t lost a fight for 11 years. Last time out in April he outboxed undefeated American Bryant Jennings over twelve rounds at Madison Square Garden in defence of his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO world heavyweight titles.
Fury, meanwhile, figures to be Klitschko’s toughest challenger for many years. Standing at six-foot-nine and 265-pounds, the Wilmslow man is both taller and heavier then the reigning champion and is also in a rich vein of form. His last two fights – stoppage wins over Dereck Chisora and Christian Hammer – have seen Fury, 24-0 (18 KOs), look more measured, controlled and dominant than ever before. He’s ready not only to challenge Klitschko, but to also return home with his belts.
