It was an occasion befitting the biggest heavyweight fight of the millennium, a three-part press conference filled with pageantry and special guests.
Tonight, an undisputed heavyweight champion will be crowned for the first time in nearly 25 years as WBC/Lineal champion Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) battles WBO/IBF/WBA ruler Oleksandr Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) and Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) will vie to become the division’s first undisputed champion since Lennox Lewis scaled the mountaintop in 1999.
The expected faceoff did not happen. Fury refused to look Usyk in the eyes, facing forward to the crowd. The intensity, however, was palpable. After many years of hype and conjecture, the fight is almost here.
Eight fights in total are scheduled for the Top Rank on ESPN+ PPV stream, which begins at 12 p.m. ET/9 a.m. PT.
The pay-per-view undercard features a pair of world title fights. In the co-feature, cruiserweight king Jai Opetaia (24-0, 19 KOs) puts his Ring Magazine belt on the line against Mairis Briedis (28-2, 20 KOs), the man he dethroned for the IBF world title in July 2022. The vacant IBF world title will also be at stake in this highly anticipated rematch.
The fighting pride of Wales, IBF junior lightweight world champion Joe Cordina (17-0, 9 KOs), defends his strap against Belfast native Anthony Cacace (21-1, 7 KOs). In other undercard bouts, undefeated heavyweight contenders Frank Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) and Agit Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) square off in a WBC title eliminator, while former light heavyweight king Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) sees action in a 10-round cruiserweight tilt versus Robin Sirwan Safar (16-0, 12 KOs).
