Tyson Fury fights Oleksandr Usyk for the undisputed heavyweight championship bout on May 18 live on Sky Sports Box Office; The contest has attracted worldwide attention, including the Pope himself; Mauricio Sulaiman explains why the Pontiff signed the WBC belt
Tuesday 16 April 2024 16:19, UK
We knew the Tyson Fury versus Oleksandr Usyk heavyweight world title fight was attracting worldwide attention. We didn't realise that stretched all the way to the Vatican!
The Pope has signed and blessed the title belt that Fury and Usyk will box for on May 18.
Britain's Fury and Ukraine's Usyk will contest the first undisputed heavyweight title bout in 25 years, fighting for the WBC, WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight championships live on Sky Sports Box Office.
The WBC has commissioned a new title belt for the Fury vs Usyk fight, with Ukrainian and British emblems on either strap. WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman took the belt to the Pope, who blessed and signed it.
"Pope Francis has a foundation," Sulaiman told Sky Sports. "I learned there was a programme called Football with Values. I proposed to the Pope to do Boxing with Values. So he accepted, immediately embraced boxing.
"Since that day we have been doing a lot of activations and training and going out trying to teach values through boxing with thousands of people around the world.
"We have had the opportunity to meet Pope Francis, before the pandemic and now after the pandemic."
As for whom the Pope is tipping to win the big fight, the Pontiff it transpires will remain studiously neutral.
"I brought the belt, he blessed the belt, he signed it. [The Pope] signed one side [on the strap] and he said I must sign the other side otherwise this fighter is going to think I'm cheering for him and not the other," Sulaiman revealed.
"Doesn't have a favourite. He's looking forward to May 18!"
Boxing and the Holy See are a perhaps unlikely combination. But Sulaiman insists the Pope recognises the social values that the sport can embody.
"People are taken out of the streets to go into gyms," Sulaiman said.
"He [the Pope] himself made the comparison of the cobra and the mongoose. The mongoose is a little rat, the King cobra is the most terrifying snake and yet the mongoose beats the King cobra.
"And he makes that analogy saying that in life sometimes you have to know your weaknesses and your strengths, use them and always know the weakness of your enemy.
"So the mongoose uses speed and movement and beats a cobra. He told me that the first time I met him."
Whether the Pope thinks Usyk will be the mongoose to Fury's cobra, we do not know. We all have to wait till May 18 to find out.
Don't miss Fury vs Usyk live on Sky Sports Box Office.
