Tyson Fury has declared it is “my time, my destiny, my era and my generation” before his big showdown with Oleksandr Usyk.

Fury, the WBC champion, is set to fight Ukraine’s WBA, IBF and WBO title-holder Usyk on 18 May in Saudi Arabia in the first undisputed world heavyweight bout of the century.

Regarding his opponent, the former unified cruiserweight champion who made his heavyweight debut in 2019, Fury told a press conference on Wednesday: “It’s not personal, it’s strictly business for both fighters. There’s a lot of stuff on the line, but I don’t hate him, he don’t hate me.

“I respect him, as a man, as a fighter. Everyone has to respect the man’s achievements. Good fighter – I have a tough challenge in front of me. But I’m very confident in my ability and I’m very confident I’ll beat the guy.

“When the cruiserweights step up to the big boys, usually they get found wanting. You can beat the average big ones but you can’t beat the elite big ones, because size really matters. We have weight divisions for a reason and he’s going to be found wanting when he fights me on May 18. This is my time, my destiny, my era and my generation. Fact.”

Fury, who called himself an “encyclopaedia on boxing”, referred to a number of examples of cruiserweights stepping up, including Evander Holyfield, who lost an undisputed heavyweight clash with Lennox Lewis in 1999.

This contest had originally been scheduled for 17 February, but was postponed 15 days prior to that after Fury suffered a cut above his right eye in sparring. The 35-year-old said: “At first I was a little depressed, for the first day or so, but afterwards, like all things in life, I realised God’s timing is impeccable, perfect. It’s not late, it’s not early, it’s bang on time. It wasn’t my time to fight then, but it is going to be my time on May 18.

“I’m in fantastic shape. I’m having a fantastic training camp and have got a good team around me, everything is going to plan. I’m working very hard, I’ve got my Dad [John Fury] in camp this time, so I’ve got my secret weapon. We’ve got a full circus camp, so can’t do any more really.”

He later added: “I think if I didn’t train at all for this camp, I just came in at like 25 stone, and sank maybe 15 pints of Peroni beforehand, and the next day got in there, what is he [Usyk] going to do – jab me around? Take nothing away, but he couldn’t do anything with Derek Chisora (who Usyk beat in a heavyweight fight in 2020). It was a 50-50 fight.”

Since beating Chisora, Usyk has recorded unanimous and split-decision victories against Anthony Joshua and a ninth-round knockout against Daniel Dubois.

Wednesday’s press conference at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium in Morecambe, near where Fury lives, saw his father, trainer SugarHill Steward, promoter Frank Warren and manager Spencer Brown all predict a knockout victory for the Briton over his fellow unbeaten fighter Usyk. Fury himself then joked: “I’m going to go for Usyk to knock me out in the first round – I’m going to go for it, why not?”

Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) first became world champion with victory over Usyk’s compatriot Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. He added: “I said if I can’t beat old Wlad, I must be useless, and I’ll say it again – if I can’t beat Usyk, I’m no good clearly. That’s your headline. If Tyson Fury can’t beat Usyk, Tyson’s no good, end of. But if I beat him, I beat another man, great, fantastic – on to the next one.”