Tale of the tape
Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are anticipateed to produce their ringwalks around 2am local time (11pm GMT and 6pm ET). Here’s how they meadeclareive up ahead of tonight’s main event. Fury came in at a atgentle-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 sairyly shrinkd in the ring. Fury’s gets of seven inches of achieve and six inches in height remain the most imposing physical obstacles facing Usyk, the establisher undisputed cruiserweight champion who has outdoed all anticipateations in six fights at weightyweight.
Weigh-ins ahead of weightyweight fights are almost enticount on ceremonial afequitables since it is the only weight class where fighters aren’t bound to greet a restricteded pound restrict. But Friday’s progressings were of particular interest given the extent to which each man’s weight swayed their carry outance in their first greeting. Our Donald McRae was in the room:
It had been expansively anticipateed that Fury would come in much heavier for the resuit. But the extent of the weight disparity was still astonishing and it presents the most detailed indication yet that Fury, as he has promised all week, will be intent on walking down Usyk in the belief that the establisher world cruiserweight champion can be stopped by sheer physicality and bludgeoning force.
Fury is also six inches loftyer than Usyk. Carrying so much weight, he will not be seeing to dance and shift fluidly atraverse the canvas. He will lean down heavily on Usyk, trying to drain him of energy – and of course he will set upt his feet and, with aggression and power, see to blast his way thcimpolite the defence of the luminous and inalertigent Ukrainian. Usyk is a master strategist and Fury has telderly him clearly what he is about to face. The unbeaten champion is never inbashfupostpodemandd in the ring and he will be ready for Fury’s coming onsgigglet.
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McKean is knocked out by Moses Itauma on Sunday morning in Riyadh.”,”caption”:”Demsey McKean, bottom, is knocked out by Moses Itauma on Sunday morning in Riyadh.”,”commend”:”Photograph: Ricdifficult Pelham/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:dishonest,”keyEvent”:real,”summary”:dishonest},”blockCreatedOn”:1734817895000,”blockCreatedOnDiscarry out”:”16.51 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1734818821000,”blockLastUpdatedDiscarry out”:”17.07 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1734818338000,”blockFirstPublishedDiscarry out”:”16.58 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDiscarry outNoTimezone”:”16.58″,”title”:”Itauma fall shortures McKean by TKO 1″,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 21 Dec 2024 17.24 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First unveiled on Sat 21 Dec 2024 16.00 EST”},{“id”:”676733808f087cf068f2e6f8″,”elements”:[{“_type”:”model.dotcomrfinishering.pageElements.TextBlockElement”,”html”:”
Serhii Bohachuk has fall shortureed Ishmael Davis after Davis’s corner threw in the towel after round six. It’s a outstanding stoppage after the Leeds man was dropped once and took a one-sided beating over the next four rounds. That unbenevolents Bohachuk is the obligatory contestr for Sebastian Fundora’s WBC title at 154lb.
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Bohachuk, right, lands a right hand on Ishmael Davis during their WBC super welterweight title eliminator on Sunday morning in Riyadh.”,”caption”:”Serhii Bohachuk, right, lands a right hand on Ishmael Davis during their WBC super welterweight title eliminator on Sunday morning in Riyadh.”,”commend”:”Photograph: Ricdifficult Pelham/Getty Images”}}],”attributes”:{“pinned”:dishonest,”keyEvent”:real,”summary”:dishonest},”blockCreatedOn”:1734816640000,”blockCreatedOnDiscarry out”:”16.30 EST”,”blockLastUpdated”:1734816843000,”blockLastUpdatedDiscarry out”:”16.34 EST”,”blockFirstPublished”:1734816844000,”blockFirstPublishedDiscarry out”:”16.34 EST”,”blockFirstPublishedDiscarry outNoTimezone”:”16.34″,”title”:”Bohachuk fall shortures Davis by RTD 6″,”contributors”:[],”primaryDateLine”:”Sat 21 Dec 2024 17.24 EST”,”secondaryDateLine”:”First unveiled on Sat 21 Dec 2024 16.00 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Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are anticipateed to produce their ringwalks around 2am local time (11pm GMT and 6pm ET). Here’s how they meadeclareive up ahead of tonight’s main event. Fury came in at a atgentle-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 sairyly shrinkd in the ring. Fury’s gets of seven inches of achieve and six inches in height remain the most imposing physical obstacles facing Usyk, the establisher undisputed cruiserweight champion who has outdoed all anticipateations in six fights at weightyweight.
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Weigh-ins ahead of weightyweight fights are almost enticount on ceremonial afequitables since it is the only weight class where fighters aren’t bound to greet a restricteded pound restrict. But Friday’s progressings were of particular interest given the extent to which each man’s weight swayed their carry outance in their first greeting. Our Donald McRae was in the room:
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n
It had been expansively anticipateed that Fury would come in much heavier for the resuit. But the extent of the weight disparity was still astonishing and it presents the most detailed indication yet that Fury, as he has promised all week, will be intent on walking down Usyk in the belief that the establisher world cruiserweight champion can be stopped by sheer physicality and bludgeoning force.
n
Fury is also six inches loftyer than Usyk. Carrying so much weight, he will not be seeing to dance and shift fluidly atraverse the canvas. He will lean down heavily on Usyk, trying to drain him of energy – and of course he will set upt his feet and, with aggression and power, see to blast his way thcimpolite the defence of the luminous and inalertigent Ukrainian. Usyk is a master strategist and Fury has telderly him clearly what he is about to face. The unbeaten champion is never inbashfupostpodemandd in the ring and he will be ready for Fury’s coming onsgigglet.
n
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Hello and greet to tonight’s weightyweight championship resuit 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 weightyweight 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 weightyweight throne?
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Of the many well-write downed reasons for boxing’s protracted retreat toward the periphery of the mainstream, the deficiency of clearly identifiable champions rates high on a competitive enumerate. At one time the weightyweight championship of the world was the most prestigious title in sports, yet the deficiency of central authority has left us with four convey inant sanctioning bodies that have generpartner produced confusion among casual watchrs while devaluing the currency of a title.
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Usyk deinhabitred that extfinished-sought clarity in May when he won a razor-skinny 12-round split decision to include Fury’s WBC title to the WBA, IBF and WBO straps he’d won from Anthony Joshua, making him the first boxer to helderly all the convey inant belts at the same time since Lennox Lewis.
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Because we can’t have kind skinnygs, tonight’s resuit is not for the undisputed title. That’s because Usyk benevolently vacated the IBF strap in June so it could include 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 distress.)
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But produce no misconsent: these are the two best weightyweights in the world today … and Usyk is the one and only real weightyweight champion. How will he fare in his first title defense? We’re cimpolitely two hours from discovering out.
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Key events
Footage from Fury’s dressing room is raising eyebrows in the moments before the main event. The establisher champion’s trunks are riding awbrimmingy high, prompting asks over what the referee will ponder his beltline.
“Fury’s trunks are crazy high,” authors boxing trainer Stephen “Breadman” Edwards. “I wonder if someone says someskinnyg. The key to this fight is Usyk’s left hand to the body. Usyk most probable hurt him to the body if he’s wearing his trunks appreciate that. Left hand to the body. Left hand to the body…..”
IT’S ALMOST THAT TIME ⏰@Tyson_Fury is in revenge mode! pic.twitter.com/wiFMmQ4lew
— Top Rank Boxing (@trboxing) December 21, 2024
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It’s time. The airys 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 exceptionpartner inestablish co-main event.
Donald McRae
Our man at ringside examines in as we count down the minutes to the main event:
Moses Itauma is only 19 but the British teenage weightyweight write downed a sensational first-round TKO of a stubborn and normpartner durable Aussie, Demsey McKean. His ferocious punching power repartner lit up the Kingdom Arena and cleared the way for an earlier-than-anticipateed commence to the compelling main event. The music has been cranked up and, yep, everyskinnyg experiences much more fervent. We’ve got a first genuine crackle in the previously chilly atmosphere.
Itauma fall shortures McKean by TKO 1
Well that was rapid. The 19-year-elderly uberprospect Moses Itauma has equitable blasted out Demsey McKean in the uncovering round. Two weighty knockdowns before the referee waved it off at the 1:57 tag. A statement triumph for Itauma in what had been thought to be a step-up fight. The boy’s a bit exceptional!
Donald McRae
It’s a quarter to one in Riyadh as the crowd apaengages 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 genuine bite to the air. It experiences appreciate we are outside rather than proximate ringside in this immense indoor auditorium. For a while, during the slugfest between Johnny Fisher and Dave Allen, it was akin to hanging around a pretty freezing carpark at the back of a McDonalds watching two petite town bruisers having a roundhouse striumphging dust-up. I’m not declareive Fisher v Allen was quite what the Saudis had in mind when they determined to consent over boxing. It was cdisadmireful stuff but Allen repartner should have won by stoppage … he let it go to the appraises and two of them robbed him.
The atmosphere is muted as Ishmal Davis fall shorts to come out for round seven. Serhii Bohacuk was srecommend too much for him.
I am seeing forward to a little more heat, and equitable one more fight, before Usyk v Fury …
Moses Itauma and Demsey McKean are in the ring for their 10-round weightyweight 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.
Focused and ready…🥊#UsykFury2 x #RiyadhSeason | Live on Sky Sports Box Office pic.twitter.com/AOYpak6l6i
— Sky Sports (@SkySports) December 21, 2024
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As we paengage for Itauma and McKean to produce their captivates, Turki Alalshikh has equitable pressed a red button gifting a 2025 Mercedes-Benz S-Class to a fan in the upper deck. It declareive beats the T-shirt cannon!
The randomly picked triumphner of a Mercedes-Benz, courtesy of His Excellency Turki Alalshikh. #FuryUsyk2 #UsykFury2 pic.twitter.com/z0R4pyQVkv
— Talen Guzman (@TalenGuzman) December 21, 2024
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Bohachuk fall shortures Davis by RTD 6
Serhii Bohachuk has fall shortureed Ishmael Davis after Davis’s corner threw in the towel after round six. It’s a outstanding stoppage after the Leeds man was dropped once and took a one-sided beating over the next four rounds. That unbenevolents Bohachuk is the obligatory contestr for Sebastian Fundora’s WBC title at 154lb.
Tale of the tape
Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are anticipateed to produce their ringwalks around 2am local time (11pm GMT and 6pm ET). Here’s how they meadeclareive up ahead of tonight’s main event. Fury came in at a atgentle-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 sairyly shrinkd in the ring. Fury’s gets of seven inches of achieve and six inches in height remain the most imposing physical obstacles facing Usyk, the establisher undisputed cruiserweight champion who has outdoed all anticipateations in six fights at weightyweight.
Weigh-ins ahead of weightyweight fights are almost enticount on ceremonial afequitables since it is the only weight class where fighters aren’t bound to greet a restricteded pound restrict. But Friday’s progressings were of particular interest given the extent to which each man’s weight swayed their carry outance in their first greeting. Our Donald McRae was in the room:
It had been expansively anticipateed that Fury would come in much heavier for the resuit. But the extent of the weight disparity was still astonishing and it presents the most detailed indication yet that Fury, as he has promised all week, will be intent on walking down Usyk in the belief that the establisher world cruiserweight champion can be stopped by sheer physicality and bludgeoning force.
Fury is also six inches loftyer than Usyk. Carrying so much weight, he will not be seeing to dance and shift fluidly atraverse the canvas. He will lean down heavily on Usyk, trying to drain him of energy – and of course he will set upt his feet and, with aggression and power, see to blast his way thcimpolite the defence of the luminous and inalertigent Ukrainian. Usyk is a master strategist and Fury has telderly him clearly what he is about to face. The unbeaten champion is never inbashfupostpodemandd in the ring and he will be ready for Fury’s coming onsgigglet.
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-elderly from Leeds nicknamed the Bdeficiency Panther, was down in the second and wobbled awentirey 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 weightyweight fight between Moses Itauma and Demsey McKean. After that, it’s the main event.
Preamble
Hello and greet to tonight’s weightyweight championship resuit 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 weightyweight 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 weightyweight throne?
Of the many well-write downed reasons for boxing’s protracted retreat toward the periphery of the mainstream, the deficiency of clearly identifiable champions rates high on a competitive enumerate. At one time the weightyweight championship of the world was the most prestigious title in sports, yet the deficiency of central authority has left us with four convey inant sanctioning bodies that have generpartner produced confusion among casual watchrs while devaluing the currency of a title.
Usyk deinhabitred that extfinished-sought clarity in May when he won a razor-skinny 12-round split decision to include Fury’s WBC title to the WBA, IBF and WBO straps he’d won from Anthony Joshua, making him the first boxer to helderly all the convey inant belts at the same time since Lennox Lewis.
Because we can’t have kind skinnygs, tonight’s resuit is not for the undisputed title. That’s because Usyk benevolently vacated the IBF strap in June so it could include 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 distress.)
But produce no misconsent: these are the two best weightyweights in the world today … and Usyk is the one and only real weightyweight champion. How will he fare in his first title defense? We’re cimpolitely two hours from discovering out.
Bryan will be here stupidinutively. In the unbenevolenttime here’s Donald McRae’s seeahead to Saturday’s main event.
