Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk tonight go head to head in what has been dubbed the fight of the century.
Every heavyweight belt is on the line as an undisputed king will be crowned in Riyadh. Tonight will be the first time the division has had one clear champion since Lennox Lewis between November 1999 and April 2000, and the first time at all in the four-belt era.
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A rematch between Fury and Usyk is expected later this year regardless of the outcome of this first bout, though issues with mandatories and boxing politics means the belts are set to become fragmented before the undisputed champion can defend their titles.
The self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ was forced to pull out of their original date of February 17 after sustaining a “freak” cut above his eye in sparring. It was then quickly rearranged for May 18 and the presence of a rematch clause means the two will meet again irrespective of the result.
Tensions are already high in Saudi Arabia. Monday’s media day saw their camps clash as what appeared to be a friendly-if-tense chanting match descended into a brawl when John Fury, Tyson’s father, headbutted Stanislav Stepchuk, a member of Usyk’s entourage, and was left bloodied as a result.
Thursday’s press conference saw the ‘Gypsy King’ refuse to look Usyk in the eye at the face-off but Friday’s weigh-in saw the pair having to be separated by security.
Tyson Fury is the favourite, but only narrowly, and it will be fascinating to see just how sharp he is, given his last fight was back in October 2023. That night, the then-boxing novice Francis Ngannou took him all the way and even knocked Fury to the ground before the British fighter claimed an unconvincing win on points.
Anthony Joshua made that look even worse by disposing of the former UFC heavyweight king with relative ease back in March.
Usyk, meanwhile, has not fought since defending his WBO, WBO and IBF titles against Daniel Dubois in Poland last summer in controversial fashion.
Dubois knocked the Ukrainian to the canvas with what the referee deemed a low blow, something that was later appealed by the Briton’s team. That appeal was dismissed, teeing up a first undisputed battle in an age.
Fury vs Usyk date, start time, venue and ring walks
Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk will take place tonight, Saturday May 18, 2024 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ring walks for the main event will likely take place at around 11pm BST. It could prove to be later than that though, with Joshua and Ngannou not emerging for their recent bout until 12:30am UK time.
A long undercard is expected to begin at around 4pm BST.
How to watch Fury vs Usyk
TV channel and live stream: Fury vs Usyk will be shown live in the UK via DAZN’s pay-per-view service, Sky Sports Box Office and TNT Sports Box Office.
Ahead of the planned February date for this fight, DAZN announced that for those who already have a subscription, the fight would be available to purchase at a cost of £23.99. Otherwise new customers would pay £24.99 to buy the event and get a free month’s subscription to DAZN in the process.
Sky Sports are charging £24.95, where coverage starts at 4pm. It will cost £24.99 on TNT Sports, who will start their broadcast at 2:30pm. Viewers will not have to be subscribed to either service to watch the event.
Live blog: Follow the entire card live on the night with Standard Sport’s fight blog.
Fury vs Usyk fight card/undercard in full
Joe Cordina makes a defence of his super-featherweight world title as he fights Ireland’s Anthony Cacace on the undercard.
The Welshman is 17-0 as a professional and won the IBF belt for a second time with victory over Shavkat Rakhimov last year, before defending his strap in Monaco against Edward Vazquez in November.
Earlier in the night, Jai Opetaia faces Mairis Briedis, beaten in 2018 by Usyk, for the vacant IBF cruiserweight title in a hugely-anticipated bout, while young heavyweight star Moses Itauma is also in action.
Mark Chamberlain - a favourite fighter of Turki Alalshikh, chairman of the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi - also competes on the undercard, as does former light-heavyweight world champion Sergey Kovalev.
Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk (for WBA, WBC, WBO, IBO and IBF heavyweight titles)
Joe Cordina vs Anthony Cacace (for IBF and IBO super-featherweight titles)
Jai Opetaia vs Mairis Briedis (for vacant IBF cruiserweight title)
Mark Chamberlain vs Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab
Sergey Kovalev vs Robin Sirwan Safar
Isaac Lowe vs Hasibullah Ahmadi
David Nyika vs Michael Seitz
Moses Itauma vs Ilja Mezencev
Agit Kabayel vs Frank Sanchez
Fury vs Usyk purse
There is set to be a $10million fine for either fighter to pay, should they pull out of the May 18 date.
While the money each fighter will receive has not been made public, promoter Bob Arum suggested in October that Fury expected to make in excess of $100m.
"If you told Tyson Fury he's set to make $100 million, he'd really get pissed off," Arum said. "Because he thinks – and I think he's right – that he's gonna make a lot more than that."
Fury said this week, seemingly in an attempt at mind games with Usyk, that the prize money excited him more than winning his opponent’s belts. He said: “The truth is it’s exciting to me and attractive because of the amount of money I’m getting paid, not because of the belts that are on the line.”
Usyk can expect to make a similarly huge sum, and it will certainly be a career-high payday.
It was reported that Usyk earned more than £30m, even before pay-per-view revenue and various endorsements, for the rematch against Joshua.
Fury vs Usyk prediction
It is not a particularly bold prediction to suggest Fury will be significantly better than in his strangely lethargic win over Ngannou.
That was a performance that suggested complacency either on the night or in Fury’s training camp, a factor that will not be an issue as he prepares for an undisputed showdown with Usyk.
Having picked up routine wins over Derek Chisora and Dillian Whyte before the Ngannou bout, it is well over two years since Fury last needed to produce something close to his best, with that coming in the third fight of his historic trilogy with Deontay Wilder.
That was an epic fight with five knockdowns, and it would be a huge surprise if there was the same kind of thrilling action on Saturday. Usyk is technically superb, a charge that cannot be levelled at Wilder, for all that right hand was a real threat to Fury.
The Ukrainian does not possess the concussive one-punch power, but his movement and relentless work-rate wears opponents down. That strength may be neutralised here to a degree, and certainly more than Usyk has experienced at heavyweight so far, with Fury so slick himself.
We’re predicting a tight contest, with plenty of rounds that are difficult to score. Fury’s size advantage could just about give him the edge, with the front-footed approach under SugarHill Steward preventing Usyk from controlling the bout in the way he did against the likes of Joshua and Dubois.
Fury to win on points.
Fury vs Usyk weigh-in results
A trim-looking and very animated Fury weighed in at 262lbs on Friday, when the two rivals had to be separated by security after clashing during a tense final face-off - a far cry from the atmosphere at Thursday’s surprisingly very tame last press conference.
It is Fury’s lowest weight since his gruelling win over Otto Wallin in September 2019, when he was 254.5lbs. He was at 277.7lbs when he faced Francis Ngannou in October.
The much smaller Usyk, meanwhile, was believed to have tipped the scales at 233.5lbs, a career-heaviest weight and 12.6lbs heavier than for his last fight against Daniel Dubois last summer. His previous heaviest was 221.5lbs for the Anthony Joshua rematch in summer 2022.
However, he actually is giving up almost 40lbs to Fury, who is the much taller man at 6ft 9ins. Usyk stands at 6ft 3ins. It later transpired that Usyk’s weight should have been read out at the lighter 223lbs.
Fury vs Usyk betting odds
Tyson Fury to win: 4/5
Oleksandr Usyk to win: 6/5
Draw: 12/1
Tyson Fury to win on points or by decision: 21/10
Tyson Fury to win by knockout or technical knockout: 3/1
Oleksandr Usyk to win on points or by decision: 21/10
Oleksandr Usyk to win by knockout or technical knockout: 9/2
