Seven months after their first fight, world champion Oleksandr Usyk and his great British rival Tyson Fury will face each other again on Saturday in Riyadh, where the Ukrainian hopes to extend his supremacy and the Briton hopes to avenge the only defeat of his career.
On May 19, after a fight that lived up to expectations, Usyk became the first absolute heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. The Ukrainian, declared the winner by split decision, then managed to unify the four belts in the category.
Since then Usyk has relinquished his International Federation (IBF) title, which was recovered through the media by the British Daniel Dubois. In this Saturday’s rematch, three other belts will be at stake, those of the World Boxing Association (WBA), the World Boxing Council (WBC) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO).
As the second fight approached, the man from the Simferopl bigot and the ‘Gypsy King’ have been increasing the pressure, until Thursday, when they had a face-to-face meeting in which they held each other’s gaze for 11 minutes. .
Not very talkative during the press conference, the unpredictable Briton acknowledged that after having “talked and joked” throughout his career, he was ready for the fight.
“This time I’m serious. I’m going to cause damage here on Saturday. I’m going to inflict a lot of pain,” he declared.
Usyk, 37, refused to enter into the game of verbal provocations.
“It’s all on the line on Saturday,” he said.
In the first fight, Fury, 36, suffered the first defeat of his career. Before facing Usyk, he was undefeated in 35 fights, despite a career of ups and downs marked by episodes of depression and addiction problems.
His build-up to the fight was chaotic, after a cut to the eye forced a three-month delay. During the final preparations, his father, John, head-butted a member of Usyk’s entourage, and it was revealed after the fight that Fury’s wife had suffered a miscarriage on the eve of the fight.
On Thursday, he did not indulge in much public bliss in front of the cameras during a public workout, staged under palm trees at Riyadh’s Boulevard World amusement park. Dressed in a hoodie and leather jacket, Fury stepped into the ring, laced up his gloves, raised them again, then issued monosyllabic threats.
Usyk, meanwhile, was smiling and exuberant, dancing and punching the air to the tune of Ukrainian pop star Artem Pivovarov.
On Friday, Ukrainian President Volodomir Zelensky sent him a message.
“All Ukrainians are on your side. Of course, the UK is helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia (...) We respect our partners. So when you beat Fury, don’t hit him too hard,” he joked in a video posted on Telegram.
Usyk Fury ring walk times will be dictated by the previous fights, but they’re expected to take place at approximately 1.30am AST (local time) in the early hours of Sunday, December 22 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Here are the Usyk vs Fury 2 ring walk times around the world, beginning with those in the west starting on Saturday, December 21:
The Olkesandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury rematch will be broadcast by DAZN in more than 200 countries around the world including the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, SKY Sports and TNT Sports will offer exclusive coverage for the United Kingdom and Ireland, while Megogo will offer the boxing signal in Ukraine.
DAZN has the rights in more than 200 countries around the world to broadcast the second fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyso Fury. If you’re a new customer, let me tell you that the PPV has a free trial that you can cancel before it goes into effect.
Prices vary depending on the markets. Viewers in the US and Canada, for example, will pay a PPV fee of $39.99 ($30 less than last time), while it’s set at £24.99 PPV in the UK, $29.99 PPV in Australia and €19.99 PPV in parts of Europe such as France.
TNT Sports Box Office also offers the Usyk vs Fury 2 PPV in the UK. You can also buy directly on Discovery Plus (£24.99) and Amazon Prime (£24.99).
The PPV event is priced at £24.95 for UK customers and €27.95 for those in Ireland until midnight GMT on Friday 20 December.
After that, while the online booking price remains the same, so too will phone bookings, which will rise to £29.95/€32.95.
You can watch it online or via Sky Q, Glass, Stream and Sky+.
Usyk-Fury 2 kicks off at 16:00 GMT, Saturday 21 December on Sky Sports Box Office (the Sky channel. 491 if you’re watching on TV).
Ukrainian streaming service Megogo is showing a Usyk vs Fury 2 live stream included as part of its regular Optimal (119 RAH) and Maximal (239 RAH) subnoscription plans. That means that regular subscribers can watch the fight without a PPV!
Contenido GEC