Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and challenger Tyson Fury will meet tomorrow, Wednesday, October 23rd, for their press conference to begin marketing their rematch on December 21st at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The press conference starts at noon ET/5:00 p.m. UK.
Former WBC heavyweight champion Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) will get a second chance after losing to Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) by a 12-round split decision earlier this year on May 18th in Riyadh. Some fans felt Fury deserved the win last time, so he’s being given another shot.
If Fury loses this fight, it will ruin fans’ interest in seeing him and Anthony Joshua fight in 2025. They’ll still fight, but it will have less appeal because they both come into the contest having lost their last fights.
The one great fight on the Usyk vs. Fury 2 undercard if the match between former WBA junior middleweight champion Israil Madrimov and former WBC interim champ Serhii Bohachuk. That fight is arguably only interesting match on the undercard. The rest is filer.
Bohachuk (24-2, 23 KOs) lost his last fight by a controversial 12-round majority decision to Vergil Ortiz Jr. on August 10th in Las Vegas. That was a fight that a lot of boxing fans had Bohachuk winning, but the Nevada judges gave it to the American, Vergil Jr, who looked poor.
Madrimov (10-1-1, 7 KOs) lost his WBA 154-lb title to Terence Crawford by a close 12-round unanimous decision on August 3rd in Los Angeles. He fought well but gave the fight away to Crawford by not letting his hands go in the last three rounds. Crawford outworked Madrimov. If Madrimov fights like that against Bohachuk, he’ll lose again, but far worse because this guy throws a lot of punches.
