Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk clashed during a fiery weigh-in ahead of their mammoth undisputed heavyweight title fight this weekend.
While Thursday’s last press conference was a surprisingly tame affair in a fight week that began with Tyson’s father John Fury being left bloodied after head-butting a member of Usyk’s entourage as the two camps clashed in ugly scenes, tensions simmered once more as both champions stepped on the scales in Riyadh on Friday evening.
Fury and Usyk had to be separated by security as they exchanged barbs and went head to head during an intense final face-off on a packed stage with all of their belts held aloft, a far more animated Fury shoving his rival and setting the scene for a potentially explosive showdown on Saturday night.
"I’m ready to rock and roll, fireworks tomorrow night,” an angry Fury said in a post-weigh-in interview with DAZN before storming off the stage.
“I'm going to knock this littler f****r spark out.
"I'm coming for his heart, that’s what I’m coming for. F**k his belts, I’m coming for his f*****g heart.
“He's getting it tomorrow, spark out. F**k him, f**k all his team too. F**k the lot of them. They can all get it if they want it too. S**thouses.”
With his final message to Fury, a calmer Usyk said: “Don’t be afraid. I will not leave you alone tomorrow.
“It is my plan [to stay calm]. If I am nervous, I will not win. My fans, I love you.”
Asked what advice his late father would have had for him against Fury, Usyk said: “Son, you can.”
A trimmed-down Fury had earlier weighed in at 262lbs, his lowest mark for a fight since he tipped the scales at a career-lowest 254.5lbs for his tough decision win over Otto Wallin in Las Vegas in September 2019.
The reigning WBC champion had been at 277.7lbs against Francis Ngannou in Saudi Arabia in October, when he was knocked down in a major shock before rallying for an unconvincing decision win over the boxing novice and former UFC heavyweight king.
Fury goes into fight night almost 40lbs heavier than the much smaller Usyk, who stands at 6ft 3ins to his opponent’s towering 6ft 9in frame.
The Ukrainian, who holds the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, IBO, and The Ring belts, was believed to have weighed in on Friday at a career-heaviest 233.5lbs. His previous highest weight had been 221.5lbs, when he beat Anthony Joshua for a second time in Jeddah in August 2022.
However, it later transpired that the weight was actually announced incorrectly and should have been listed as 223lbs.
Saturday night’s twice-delayed and much-anticipated ‘Ring of Fire’ main event in Riyadh is the biggest heavyweight showdown for more than two decades, with boxing’s blue-riband division set to receive its first undisputed world champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000.
Either Fury or Usyk will end up as the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era, with a rematch set to follow in October.
