Tyson Fury was weighed at 127 kg against 102 kg for Oleksandr Usyk, an advantage of 25 kilos for the Briton, Friday on the eve of their rematch in Riyadh, contested this Saturday, December 21 from 11:30 p.m.
Fury, who weighs 9 kilos more than during their first fight in May, therefore displays the heaviest weight of his career.
Seven months after the first leg, Fury and Usyk meet again on Saturday in the Saudi capital for a rematch. On May 19, at the end of a fight that kept all its promises, Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
The Ukrainian, declared winner by split decision, then unified the four belts in the heavyweight category.
Since then, Usyk has relinquished his IBF title, which has since been recovered by Briton Daniel Dubois. Saturday's “rematch”, the most anticipated boxing event of the end of the year, will therefore have the other three belts at stake.
Fury, former WBC champion, must beat Usyk on Saturday if he wants to forget the only defeat of his career.
“When a 300-pound man hits you in the jaw…”
During the weigh-in, which took place at Riyadh's Boulevard World amusement park, the Briton uttered just one word – “war” – to the interviewer before leaving the stage.
“When a 127 kilo man hits you in the jaw, compared to a 108 kilo man, it's a little different,” he told Sky Sports earlier.
On Thursday, tension rose a notch during the press conference, marked by an intense 11-minute face-to-face. On Friday, they faced each other for only a few seconds before separating.
Usyk, 37, is undefeated (22-0, 14 KO), while Fury, 2.06 m, or 15 cm taller than the Ukrainian, has a record of 34 victories for a draw and a defeat.
“Don’t hit him too hard,” says Zelensky
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made a joke by asking his star to be gentle with his British rival, so as not to endanger London's military aid to Ukraine.
“All Ukrainians are on your side”, Zelensky said Friday in a video broadcast on Telegram and addressed to the Ukrainian boxer.
“Of course, Britain helps Ukraine in its fight against Russia”he noticed, however.
“That's why when you beat Fury, don't hit him too hard, because we don't want them to ban Storm Shadow”he continued, evoking the British name of a Franco-British cruise missile supplied by London to kyiv.
British media reported last month that Ukraine fired Storm Shadow missiles at Russia for the first time after London gave it the green light for such strikes.
The British government has refused to confirm or deny this information.
180 million euros
Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, invests massively in sport to enhance its image, causing it to be regularly accused of “sport-washing”, that is to say of using sport to divert attention to its human rights record.
Despite these criticisms, the country is becoming the undisputed capital of world boxing, with monumental purses and productions worthy of Hollywood. For Saturday's fight, the British media reported a purse of 150 million pounds (180 million euros), of which Usyk should take the lion's share, contrary to what happened in May. , when Fury had according to the media received 70% of the sum.
