“Fight of the year”, purse of €180M, Saudi Arabia… Why you shouldn’t miss the Fury-Usyk rematch

Seven months after their first fight, world champion Oleksandr Usyk and his great rival Tyson Fury meet for a rematch on Saturday in Riyadh, where the Ukrainian hopes to extend his supremacy and the Briton avenges the only defeat of his career.

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 heavyweight belts. the category.

Since then, Usyk has relinquished his IBF title, which has since been recovered by Briton Daniel Dubois. THE «rematch» on Saturday, the most anticipated boxing event of the end of the year, will therefore have the other three belts at stake, those of the WBA, the WBO and the WBC.

« This time, I'm serious. I'm going to do some damage here Saturday night. I'm going to inflict a lot of pain”

Tyson Fury

As this second salvo approaches, the mustachioed man from Simferopol and the «Gypsy King» increased the pressure, engaging in an extraordinary eye-to-eye face-to-face on Thursday for more than 11 minutes. Not very talkative during the press conference, the unpredictable Briton admitted that after having “talked and joked” throughout his career he was ready for combat. “This time I'm serious. I'm going to do some damage here Saturday night. I'm going to inflict a lot of pain”he declared. Usyk, 37, for his part refused to enter into the game of verbal provocations. “Everything will be decided on Saturday evening”he said.

Fury did not digest the first defeat of his career

In the first leg, Fury, 36, suffered the first defeat of his career. Before facing Usyk, he was undefeated in 35 fights, despite a checkered career marked by depressive episodes and addiction problems.

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His preparation had been chaotic after a nasty eye injury in training forced him to postpone the fight for three months. During final preparations, his father, John, headbutted a member of Usyk's entourage, and it was later revealed that Fury's wife had suffered a miscarriage the day before the fight.

On Thursday, he refused to perform in front of the cameras during a public training organized under the gaze of a fake Sphinx in the Boulevard World amusement park in Riyadh. Wearing a hoodie and leather jacket, Fury strolled around the ring, laced up his gloves, took them off again, then made monosyllabic threats.

Usyk, on the other hand, was smiling and exuberant, dancing and shadow boxing to the music of Ukrainian pop star Artem Pivovarov.

180 million euros on the table

“The first fight is in the past”said the 2012 Olympic champion, adding that he felt “good, very comfortable in boxing and training”.

Fury, former WBC champion, must beat Usyk on Saturday if he wants to erase the only blemish on his record. But the Ukrainian left-hander may have gained about fifteen centimeters and several kilos, but his footwork, his speed and his impressive physical condition make him a formidable heavyweight.

Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil exporter, invests massively in sport to enhance its image, leading to it being regularly accused of «sport-washing»that is, using sport to distract from 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.