Things are not always better the second time around, but they can be in boxing.
Oleksandr Usyk will fight Tyson Fury on December 21 in Saudi Arabia in a 12-round heavyweight clash seven months after the Ukrainian made history by unifying all four heavyweight belts via a split-decision victory and becoming the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999, the Briton holding all three available belts at that time.
Fury will be looking to avenge the first professional loss in his 36-fight career.
There is much on the line in the Saudi capital of Riyadh this Saturday and either Fury or Usyk will have the WBA, WBO and WBC heavyweight belts under their Christmas tree by the end of the night.
How to watch and when?
The undercard is set to start at 6pm (1pm ET), while the main event ring walk at the Kingdom Arena is targeted to begin at around 10pm (5pm ET).
Starting at 9am (4am ET), The Athletic’s live updates will feature ringside contributions from our reporter Sarah Shephard, who will also provide in-depth analysis of the fight.
In the United Kingdom, the fight will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Box Office, TNT Sports Box Office and DAZN Pay-Per-View (PPV). It will also be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Sounds. Viewers in the U.S. will be able to watch on DAZN, which is broadcasting the rematch in over 200 countries.
What happened in the first fight?
Usyk punches Fury during May’s undisputed heavyweight title fight (Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
The judges scored the May contest narrowly in favour of Usyk, the scorecards reading 115-112 and 114-113 to Usyk with a third scoring the contest 114-113 to Fury.
In round nine, Usyk rocked the man known as “The Gypsy King” with a series of unanswered punches, leaving him bouncing off the ropes of all four sides of the ring for a knockdown. In that round alone, Usyk landed 24 punches, eight more than his taller opponent.
Usyk landed more power punches overall in May’s contest, 122 to 95, and was more efficient with his shots, landing 42 per cent compared to Fury’s 32 per cent.
The Ukrainian was emotional inside the ring after becoming the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era and then in the post-fight press conference tearfully paid tribute to his late father who died in 2012. In his post-fight interview, Fury said he had “won that fight”.
What belts are on the line?
In May, Usyk became the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era (Fayez Nureldine/AFP)
Only three of the four world titles will be on the line for the rematch as the IBF title now belongs to Daniel Dubois, winner of the IBF ‘interim’ heavyweight world title when he beat Filip Hrgovic in June. Dubois became the holder of the IBF belt after Usyk was forced to vacate it, the IBF stripping the Ukrainian of the belt as his next fight wasn’t against their mandatory challenger Dubois, who went on to retain his IBF title by beating Anthony Joshua in September.
The winner in Riyadh will be a unified champion, which is when a fighter holds two belts or more, but not an undisputed champion, which requires all four governing body titles. The four-belt era in boxing began in 2007 when the World Boxing Organization (WBO) became the fourth major sanctioning body.
What are Usyk and Fury’s records?
Fury and Usyk’s records
| Fury | Usyk | |
|---|---|---|
|
Age |
36 |
37 |
|
Height |
6ft 9in |
6ft 3in |
|
Reach |
85in |
78in |
|
Total fights |
36 |
22 |
|
Record |
34-1-1 |
22-0 |
|
Knockouts |
24 |
14 |
Dressed as a hitman to the October press conference, Usyk handed Fury photos to sign of the Englishman being punched in the face from the first fight.
At Thursday’s press conference, he told Fury: “Do not be afraid, I will not leave you alone. See you on Saturday.”
Usyk has previously beaten Britain’s best boxers, including Fury, Derek Chisora, Tony Bellew, Dubois, and Joshua twice.
Fury has always bounced back in his other rematches. After drawing his first bout with American Deontay Wilder, Fury went on to defeat him in their two matches thereafter. He fought and beat Chisora and John McDermott twice. But Usyk handed Fury his first professional loss, so the Brit will have to return from defeat for the first time.
Fury has said he has made sacrifices for this bout, notably not speaking to his wife or children for three months while in camp. Usyk’s preparations have, he said, included daily phone calls with his family during his training camp in Malta.
“I got nothing to say other than there is going to be a whole lot of hurt and pain in this fight you watch. The talking has been done. The first fight I talked, I joked, all my career. This time I am serious. I am going to do some damage here on Saturday night — watch me go to work,” Fury said at Thursday’s press conference.
At the press conference, the boxers had an intense 10-minute stare-down with neither refusing to budge until broken up.
What are others saying?
Britain’s Dubois has favoured Fury, telling Podlounge UK: “I hope our man does it. Usyk is capable. Fury should jump on him and smother him. Fury is a slick boxer too, but it will be a great fight and I’ll be out there calling on to fight the winner.”
Lewis, who was the last boxer before Usyk to be the undisputed heavyweight champion, said on Droeks on Boxing that he thought the Ukrainian would win as Usyk had “proven himself time and time again, and he’s still undefeated”.
“It really comes down to who boxes the best, who is smart in the ring. I didn’t think Tyson Fury was smart in the first fight. I think he played around a little bit too much and allowed Oleksandr Usyk to really pile up the points,” Lewis added.
“Oleksandr Usyk is a difficult opponent. He moves all the time, he’s always throwing punches, he’s in great shape, and that’s hard to beat.”
Who is on the undercard?
Serhii Bohachuk vs Ishmael Davis — Super-welterweight
Moses Itauma vs Demsey McKean — Heavyweight
Johnny Fisher vs David Allen — Heavyweight
Peter McGrail vs Rhys Edwards — Super-bantamweight
Isaac Lowe vs Lee McGregor — Featherweight
Daniel Lapin vs Dylan Colin — Light-heavyweight
Andrii Novytskyi vs Edgar Ramirez — Heavyweight
Mohammed Alakel vs Joshua Ocampo — Super-featherweight
(Top photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
