Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury clash again this weekend in the hotly-anticipated rematch of one of the biggest fights of the year in Riyadh.It has been seven months now since the heavyweight rivals finally locked horns in a long-awaited bout that had been delayed by a freak cut suffered by Fury in training, with Usyk forcing Fury to take a standing count and then going on to edge it on points by split decision after a captivating contest to become the first undisputed champion of boxing’s glamour division since Lennox Lewis in 2000.The details:When: Saturday December 21, 2024 Where: Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaStart time (GMT)4pm Coverage starts, 11pm Ring walks for Usyk vs Fury 2Fury was quick to exercise a rematch clause after suffering the first defeat of his 36-fight, 16-year professional career, having immediately hit out at the result which saw two judges score the contest 115-112 and 114-113 in favour of Usyk, while a third gave it 114-113 to Fury.Now the self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ will be out for swift revenge in Saudi Arabia after seeing his latest world title reign ended in May, losing the WBC belt he had held ever since that destructive first victory in his second fight with Deontay Wilder in early 2020.Undisputed status is not on the line this time however, with Usyk - who holds the WBA (Super), WBC, WBO, IBO and The Ring belts - vacating the IBF title just weeks after beating Fury as a result of him being unable to face interim champion Daniel Dubois again, with ‘Dynamite’ then upgraded to full champion status before successfully defending the belt emphatically for the first time by knocking out Anthony Joshua at Wembley in September.While not every single heavyweight belt is on the line this time and both men insist that defeat won’t lead to retirement, the stakes remain sky-high - particularly for Fury - in what should be an early Christmas gift to remember.
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00:00Alexander Usyk and Tyson Fury face off for the second time on Saturday night in a huge
00:06heavyweight title rematch in Riyadh. I'm here with George Flood to preview the fight.
00:09A thrilling first meeting in May went the full 12 rounds and Usyk eventually won on
00:13a split decision with two of the three judges awarding the fight to the Ukrainian.
00:17It was the first defeat of Fury's 36-fight professional career as Usyk extended his unbeaten
00:22record to 22-0. It also saw Usyk claim all the heavyweight belts, adding Fury's WBC
00:28gold to his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles. That made him the first undisputed heavyweight
00:35champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000, with Usyk having also previously reigned as undisputed
00:40at Cruiserweight. A rematch was soon confirmed and, seven months
00:44on the pair are heading back to Saudi Arabia to do it all again this weekend.
00:48However, this time undisputed status won't be on the line after Usyk quickly relinquished
00:52the IBF title which went to interim champion Daniel Dubois before he retained it by knocking
00:57out Anthony Joshua in September. Usyk is the odds-on favourite to beat his rival for
01:01a second time, but Fury will be no pushover as he plots revenge at the Kingdom Arena.
01:06So, back to Saudi Arabia, two of the biggest boxers on the planet, who's winning?
01:10Well, I think a lot's going to depend on Fury's approach this time. I mean, he thought he
01:14won the first fight and he certainly had his moments but he sort of said afterwards that
01:17he felt he was too cautious. This time it sounds like he's going to come in a lot heavier
01:21they're saying. He sort of said he's going to go straight for the knockout this time
01:25so we could see a much more explosive fight with Fury hunting the knockout.
01:29Surely Fury won't want to leave it to the judges this time?
01:32Well, exactly. Fury felt he won that first fight. I think he called it the daftest decision
01:37in the history of boxing afterwards. So, yeah, he certainly won't want to leave it to the
01:41judges again.
01:42Would it be fair to say Fury's never beaten an opponent such as Usyk?
01:46Yeah, I think it'd be fair to say it's been quite a while now as well since we saw the
01:49best of Fury. I mean, you look back at that Francis Ngannou fight where that was when
01:54he took probably a too light lead. He was expected to win it comfortably but ended up
01:57getting dropped and just squeaking out a win. I mean, before that he had the Derek Chisora
02:03fight and the Dillian White fight where he didn't really have to work too hard in either
02:07so this is a completely different test for him.
02:10So what happens if Fury loses?
02:11Well, both men have said they won't retire regardless of the result of the weekend. Fury's
02:16spoken before this year about maybe having five more fights left at the top level. You've
02:20got the Anthony Joshua fight still out there and Usyk's spoken about maybe even going back
02:25down to cruiserweight so whatever happens I don't think you'll see either man retire.
02:30And Fury or Usyk, who's your money on?
02:32I think it'll be Usyk again. Whether it's a repeat of the points win or a knockout I
02:36think will depend entirely on Fury's approach. Fury comes out very aggressive, looks for
02:42the knockout. I think Usyk is clever enough, powerful enough to make him pay. But having
02:46said that, it also wouldn't surprise me if Fury did manage to come out and get revenge
02:50and set up that huge trilogy fight.