Ryan Harkness breaks down daily mixed martial arts (MMA) news, providing unique context to stories that only 15 years of obsessing over the sport can provide, having worked for FOX Sports, Yahoo! Sports, UPROXX, MSN, Bleacher Report, HDNet and CagePotato, among others, before joining MMAmania.com in 2017.
Following a competitive loss on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, Tyson Fury is down 0-2 to Oleksandr Usyk. That closes the chapter on the massive undisputed heavyweight showdown between the two -- which is too bad for "The Gypsy King," but perhaps not the worst news for fans hoping to finally see Fury fight Anthony Joshua.
Oleksandr Usyk has always been a bit of a spoiler -- he beat Joshua twice and derailed A.J.'s big comeback run, which in turn derailed Joshua vs. Fury. Then he beat Fury once, and now twice (watch the highlights here). At this point there's no more business left for Usyk involving the two. So is it finally time for Fury vs. Joshua, even if it's only for the title of second best heavyweight in the world?
''There's only one fight," Joshua's manager Eddie Hearn told IFL TV. "But it's not the time to start calling the fight out. You don't know what Fury's going to do, maybe he doesn't want to fight again."
"The one thing I will say is Fury performed well, it's not like he's a finished fighter or his timing was off or his punch resistance was gone. He put up a good performance, so for me the only fight to make is A.J. vs. Fury. Let's see.''
"What the public wants is A.J. against Fury," Hearn said. "It's what they always want. And it's time to make that fight. But let's see. Respect Tyson Fury, see what he wants to do in the future, no rush."
Everyone around Tyson was extremely protective of him following the fight, repeatedly demanding the media not press him with questions of his future so soon after this crushing defeat.
"What's next for me? I'm going home, having some time off for sure," Fury said at the post-fight press conference. When asked if he'd fight again, Tyson left the question open. "You might do, you might not do. Who knows? We'll talk about that next year."
Riyadh Season head Turki Alalshikh has said Fury vs. Joshua is the fight to make if Usyk beat Fury again. That means the money component is in place. But Hearn told ESPN he was taking the possibility of Fury retiring seriously.
"Tyson will struggle with this defeat," he said. "You remember when A.J. lost to Usyk for the second time, you saw his reaction. Tyson made a lot of sacrifices and it's frustrating for these guys, because they are winners."
Fury reportedly spent the entire camp away from his family and didn't speak to his wife at all for three months. To make such a sacrifice and lose? Especially in a way you feel was unfair and biased? It's enough to make anyone rage-quit. Could Fury vs. Joshua be the one that gets away?