Afreak eye injury. A controversial low blow. A lucky escape against an MMA fighter. Two rescheduled dates, a few half-hearted insults, some cagey words of mutual respect and then, just this week, a headbutt. There have been many twists and turns on the road towards the biggest night in boxing for a quarter of a century, but this Saturday, the undisputed, unified heavyweight championship fight between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will finally – surely – take place.
In Riyad, Saudi Arabia, the new home of boxing – and increasingly, sport in general – crowds will flow down the freshly paved, still-gleaming streets to witness the first contest of this magnitude since Lennox Lewis fought Evander Hollyfield in Madison Square Gardens in 1999. At home, millions more will tune in to watch the politely muted atmosphere of the Kingdom Arena on TV, briefly contemplating how it might have played out in the more raucous environs of London, Vegas or Kyiv instead.
Then, around 11pm, Britain’s best heavyweight will walk out to face Ukraine’s best heavyweight, and the winner will be crowned king of kings; the champion by every available measure: four belts (WBO, WBA, IBF and WBC) and two titles (IBO and The Ring magazine lineal champion). In doing so they will reach what is considered by many to be the pinnacle of not just boxing, but sport. No one really knows what will happen; it is almost impossible to imagine either Fury or Usyk losing, because neither has before. On top of it all, the two challengers for ‘undisputed’ are, as it stands, both undefeated. There really couldn’t be any more on the line.
“When you get fights at this level, you can’t not be enthused by it,” says Tris Dixon, the editor of Boxing News and a reporter on the sport for almost 30 years. “Fury and Usyk are the consensus number one and two heavyweights in the world. There is no other moment like this in sport, where anything could happen.”
The tactical talking points are endless. On the Gypsy King’s side is height, weight and reach – coupled with a surprising fleetness of foot and a chin that has survived the boxing equivalent of several atom bombs over a trilogy of fights with Deontay Wilder, the hardest puncher in the sport’s history. His opponent, nicknamed The Cat, can count on preternatural agility, accuracy, and an eye for angles that has taken him to Olympic gold and the top of two divisions as a professional.
“Like a lot of other people, I’ve yo-yo’d between who I think might win,” says Dixon. “Usyk is a super well-rounded boxer, who has shown some vulnerabilities against bigger guys. And obviously, Fury is huge at nearly seven foot. But you do wonder, as Fury gets on in age, whether he is still going to be at his physical peak.
“Fury’s obviously got the height, the reach, possibly the hand speed, and Usyk may be weak to the body,” he goes on. “But if Fury’s going to target him there, he’s gonna have to get in close and be at risk from Usyk’s counter-punching on the inside. I would say that it’s likely to be a distance fight. I think Fury might land the more telling blows, but Uysk might be busier. And we could therefore end up with a controversial outcome, based on what the judges subjectively prefer.”
A close split decision then – or maybe even a draw. “Which given that there’s a rematch cause could be just what the promoters will want,” adds Dixon.
Many people feel Fury, at 6 foot 9 and weighing around 250 pounds, is just too big and strong not to smother and dominate Usyk – the oft-repeated cliche that ‘a good big ‘un beats a good little ‘un’. Anna Whitwham, a boxing obsessive and the author of Boxing Handsome and the forthcoming Soft Tissue Damage, is one of them. “I am looking forward to this fight,” she says. “I expect a few cagey first rounds between the two, with Fury sticking it on Usyk and putting on the pressure for the last couple.” Others think Usyk is just too indefatigable and crafty not to tire Fury out and win, if not by knockout than on points. It is said all great short stories end in a way that is at once surprising and somehow utterly inevitable: so it is, baring a miscarriage of justice from the judges, with elite-level boxing. Whatever the outcome in the small hours of Sunday morning, it will feel somehow both shocking and like we should have known all along.
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