Oleksandr Usyk v Tyson Fury II: unified heavyweight championship – live updates
Tale of the tape
Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are expected to make their ringwalks around 2am local time (11pm GMT and 6pm ET). Here’s how they measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Fury came in at a career-high 281lb at yesterday’s weigh-in at the Kingdom Arena while Usyk tipped the scales at 226lb, making for a yawning 55lb discrepancy that will be slightly reduced in the ring. Fury’s advantages of seven inches of reach and six inches in height remain the most imposing physical obstacles facing Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who has exceeded all expectations in six fights at heavyweight.
Weigh-ins ahead of heavyweight fights are almost entirely ceremonial affairs since it is the only weight class where fighters aren’t bound to meet a contracted pound limit. But Friday’s proceedings were of particular interest given the extent to which each man’s weight affected their performance in their first meeting. Our Donald McRae was in the room:
It had been widely expected that Fury would come in much heavier for the rematch. But the extent of the weight disparity was still surprising and it offers the most graphic indication yet that Fury, as he has promised all week, will be intent on walking down Usyk in the belief that the former world cruiserweight champion can be stopped by sheer physicality and bludgeoning force.
Fury is also six inches taller than Usyk. Carrying so much weight, he will not be looking to dance and move fluidly across the canvas. He will lean down heavily on Usyk, trying to drain him of energy – and of course he will plant his feet and, with aggression and power, look to blast his way through the defence of the brilliant and intelligent Ukrainian. Usyk is a master strategist and Fury has told him clearly what he is about to confront. The unbeaten champion is never intimidated in the ring and he will be ready for Fury’s coming onslaught.
Key events
Round 1
And they’re off! Usyk and Fury practically sprint from their corners to meet each other the center of the ring and Fury is already looking more aggressive than in round one of the first fight, pumping his jab with urgency. Usyk bursts into the pocket and lands a right hand upstairs. The 55lb weight discrepenency looks even starker under than lights than at the weigh-in. Fury targeting Usyk’s body with straight shots. Both fighters opening up, eschewing the typical feeling-out period. More body shots from Fury. Usyk’s balletic footwork creating an elusive target for the challenger. Usyk barrels in and clips Fury with a left hand. A frantic pace!
Guardian’s unofficial score: Usyk 9-10 Fury (Usyk 9-10 Fury)
Buffer has made the fighter introductions. The final instructions have been given by referee Roberto Ramirez Jr, the seconds are out and we’ll pick it up with round-by-round coverage from here!
Donald McRae
Three anthems: Saudi Arabia, then United Kingdom, then Ukraine. Now it’s Buffer’s turn to make the has made the fighter introductions. One last dispatch from our ringside correspondent:
We’ve had Sweet Caroline, yet again, and a drummer hammering along to Eye of the Tiger as the arena darkens and phones light up on cue. Not long now and we’re definitely out of the cold now. This is always a testing time for the fighters, in the seclusion of their locker rooms, as they wait for the last minutes to pass. Usyk and Fury pushed themselves though dark places in May to produce a classic. They are both ready to go further still. It’s almost time for this riveting rematch.
Now here comes Oleksandr Usyk. He walks quickly and methodically to the ring like a tiger as his personal hymn (Гімн Олександра Усика by Браття) plays on the arena sound system.
Ring announcer Michael Buffer has emerged from the tunnel. He calls for the challenger and Tyson Fury makes his entrance, first to Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, then to Hypnotize by The Notorious BIG. He’s wearing a red robe with white trim, not too far off from traditional Father Christmas garb.
Footage from Fury’s dressing room is raising eyebrows in the moments before the main event. The former champion’s trunks are riding awfully high, prompting questions over what the referee will consider his beltline.
“Fury’s trunks are crazy high,” writes boxing trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards. “I wonder if someone says something. The key to this fight is Usyk’s left hand to the body. Usyk most likely hurt him to the body if he’s wearing his trunks like that. Left hand to the body. Left hand to the body…..”
It’s time. The lights have gone down inside the Kingdom Arena and the main event ringwalks are about to happen. We’re off a bit sooner than anticipated thanks to the exceptionally brief co-main event.
Donald McRae
Our man at ringside checks in as we count down the minutes to the main event:
Moses Itauma is only 19 but the British teenage heavyweight recorded a sensational first-round TKO of a tough and normally durable Aussie, Demsey McKean. His ferocious punching power really lit up the Kingdom Arena and cleared the way for an earlier-than-expected start to the compelling main event. The music has been cranked up and, yep, everything feels much more intense. We’ve got a first real crackle in the previously chilly atmosphere.
Itauma defeats McKean by TKO 1
Well that was quick. The 19-year-old uberprospect Moses Itauma has just blasted out Demsey McKean in the opening round. Two heavy knockdowns before the referee waved it off at the 1:57 mark. A statement win for Itauma in what had been thought to be a step-up fight. The boy’s a bit special!
Donald McRae
It’s a quarter to one in Riyadh as the crowd awaits the co-main event. Here’s a dispatch from Donald McRae, our man at ringside:
It’s 12.45am in the Kingdom Arena and there is a real bite to the air. It feels like we are outside rather than near ringside in this vast indoor auditorium. For a while, during the slugfest between Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen, it was akin to hanging around a pretty cold carpark at the back of a McDonalds watching two small town bruisers having a roundhouse swinging dust-up. I’m not sure Fisher v Allen was quite what the Saudis had in mind when they decided to take over boxing. It was crude stuff but Allen really should have won by stoppage … he let it go to the judges and two of them robbed him.
The atmosphere is muted as Ishmal Davis fails to come out for round seven. Serhii Bohacuk was simply too much for him.
I am looking forward to a little more heat, and just one more fight, before Usyk v Fury …
Moses Itauma and Demsey McKean are in the ring for their 10-round heavyweight contest. It’s the final undercard fight before the Big One featuring Usyk and Fury, who are in their dressing rooms at the moment getting their hands wrapped.
As we wait for Itauma and McKean to make their entrances, Turki Alalshikh has just pressed a red button gifting a 2025 Mercedes-Benz S-Class to a fan in the upper deck. It sure beats the T-shirt cannon!
Bohachuk defeats Davis by RTD 6
Serhii Bohachuk has defeated Ishmael Davis after Davis’s corner threw in the towel after round six. It’s a good stoppage after the Leeds man was dropped once and took a one-sided beating over the next four rounds. That means Bohachuk is the mandatory challenger for Sebastian Fundora’s WBC title at 154lb.
Tale of the tape
Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are expected to make their ringwalks around 2am local time (11pm GMT and 6pm ET). Here’s how they measure up ahead of tonight’s main event. Fury came in at a career-high 281lb at yesterday’s weigh-in at the Kingdom Arena while Usyk tipped the scales at 226lb, making for a yawning 55lb discrepancy that will be slightly reduced in the ring. Fury’s advantages of seven inches of reach and six inches in height remain the most imposing physical obstacles facing Usyk, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who has exceeded all expectations in six fights at heavyweight.
Weigh-ins ahead of heavyweight fights are almost entirely ceremonial affairs since it is the only weight class where fighters aren’t bound to meet a contracted pound limit. But Friday’s proceedings were of particular interest given the extent to which each man’s weight affected their performance in their first meeting. Our Donald McRae was in the room:
It had been widely expected that Fury would come in much heavier for the rematch. But the extent of the weight disparity was still surprising and it offers the most graphic indication yet that Fury, as he has promised all week, will be intent on walking down Usyk in the belief that the former world cruiserweight champion can be stopped by sheer physicality and bludgeoning force.
Fury is also six inches taller than Usyk. Carrying so much weight, he will not be looking to dance and move fluidly across the canvas. He will lean down heavily on Usyk, trying to drain him of energy – and of course he will plant his feet and, with aggression and power, look to blast his way through the defence of the brilliant and intelligent Ukrainian. Usyk is a master strategist and Fury has told him clearly what he is about to confront. The unbeaten champion is never intimidated in the ring and he will be ready for Fury’s coming onslaught.
Right now Ishmael Davis and Serhii Bohachuk are in the fifth round of their undercard fight. It’s a final eliminator for the WBC super-welterweight title held by Sebastian Fundora. Davis, the 29-year-old from Leeds nicknamed the Black Panther, was down in the second and wobbled badly in the third by his Ukrainian foe, but he’s still in the fight.
There’s one more preliminary bout after this one: a scheduled 10-round heavyweight fight between Moses Itauma and Demsey McKean. After that, it’s the main event.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to tonight’s heavyweight championship rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. We’re back at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena seven months after Usyk toppled Fury to become the sport’s first undisputed heavyweight champion in a quarter-century. Will the 2012 Olympic and two-weight champion from Ukraine double down on his supremacy in boxing’s prestige division? Or will it be 2 Fury 2 Furious as the Gypsy King restores his place atop the heavyweight throne?
Of the many well-documented reasons for boxing’s protracted retreat toward the periphery of the mainstream, the lack of clearly identifiable champions rates high on a competitive list. At one time the heavyweight championship of the world was the most prestigious title in sports, yet the lack of central authority has left us with four major sanctioning bodies that have generally created confusion among casual observers while devaluing the currency of a title.
Usyk delivered that long-sought clarity in May when he won a razor-thin 12-round split decision to add Fury’s WBC title to the WBA, IBF and WBO straps he’d won from Anthony Joshua, making him the first boxer to hold all the major belts at the same time since Lennox Lewis.
Because we can’t have nice things, tonight’s rematch is not for the undisputed title. That’s because Usyk generously vacated the IBF strap in June so it could add some juice to the Daniel Dubois-Anthony Joshua show at Wembley in September. (Dubois won that fight and the belt by fifth-round knockout in an upset.)
But make no mistake: these are the two best heavyweights in the world today … and Usyk is the one and only true heavyweight champion. How will he fare in his first title defense? We’re roughly two hours from finding out.
Bryan will be here shortly. In the meantime here’s Donald McRae’s lookahead to Saturday’s main event.
