The second fight between Alexander Usik and Tyson Fury. What you need to know

Ukrainian Oleksandr Usik and British Tyson Fury will hold the second boxing fight between them on the night from December 21 to 22. The fight will take place in the capital of Saudi Arabia Riyadh. It will be one of the main events of the year not only in martial arts, but in the whole sport. How the fight will be held, what predictions give experts and where it will be shown - in the material "Izvestia".

Where and when the fight will take place

- The fight between Usik and Fury will be held at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. There was also held the first fight with their participation in May 2024. Then the British suffered the first defeat in his career, and the Ukrainian won the title of absolute world champion in the heavyweight division.

- The fight will be held in the standard format for professional boxing - it will consist of 12 rounds of three minutes each. Athletes will play almost all significant championship titles under versions WBC, IBO, WBO, WBA (Super) and The Ring magazine. At the moment, all of them belong to Usik. Previously, he also held the IBF title, but it went to the British Daniel Dubois because of Usik's refusal to make a defense against him.

- The evening of boxing will consist of seven undercard fights and the main event. Usik and Fury will enter the ring at approximately 02:00 Moscow time. There will be no official broadcast in Russia. The fight rematch will be shown live by such international services as DAZN, Sky Sports, ESPN+.

- The fight between Fury and Usik will be the first in the history of boxing, which as an experiment will be evaluated by artificial intelligence. The electronic judge will determine the number of punches thrown, aggression, efficiency and passivity of boxers, time in the clinch and prohibited techniques. At the end, the artificial intelligence will give a forecast: it will estimate the probability of victory and defeat based on the collected statistics. Its conclusions will have no influence on the official result.

With what boxers approached the fight

- The 37-year-old Usik is an undefeated boxer at the professional level. He has 22 victories, of which 14 by knockout. At the same time in the super-heavyweight category Usik performed only six times, achieving two early victories. At the amateur level, the Ukrainian boxer won the Olympic Games, world and European championships. At the moment Usik is the best boxer in the world according to the readers of the BoxRec portal and tops the rating of the strongest boxers of ESPN TV channel regardless of weight categories.

- By the age of 36 Fury had 36 professional fights. His record includes 34 victories, 24 of which were won by knockout. The only defeat in his career the Briton suffered from Usik, one more fight with American Deontay Wilder ended in a draw. According to a number of boxing organizations, he is in the top four boxers in several ratings in the heavyweight division. Furyretired from boxing for three years after defeating Ukrainian Wladimir Klitschko in 2015, losing all his titles, but has returned to the high level. His second fights against the same opponent, the Briton is usually much stronger than his first.

- The first fight between Fury and Usik ended with the victory of the latter by a split decision of judges. The British boxer led in the first six rounds, taking advantage of the advantage in arm length and weight, but then Usik increased the pace and seized the initiative. At the end of the ninth round Fury was knocked down, but avoided an early defeat due to the gong. Two of the three judges awarded the victory to Usik.

- Before the second fight, both boxers surprised the fans with their epatage. At the press conference held on October 23 in London, Usik appeared in a black suit with a red tie and completely shaved, presenting himself as Hitman the hitman from the video game of the same name. Fury, on the other hand, wore a motley suit and a cap with his nickname "Gypsy King". In this form, they held a battle of glances.

- The next time the athletes met was shortly before the fight at a media event in Riyadh. Fury called his defeat in the first fight unfair, blaming it on the judges, and in an insulting way promised to knock out Usik. The one in response mocked his opponent for his talkativeness and assured of his next victory.

The outcome of the fight: predictions

- The world of martial arts is divided into two camps, each of which favors either Usik or Fury. Thus, Russian UFC champion Oleg Taktarov said that Fury has every chance to win, but the fight will be extremely difficult for him. MMA fighter Jeff Monson said that he will cheer for the Briton in the rematch, as he did during the first fight. Two-time Olympic boxing champion Alexey Tishchenko said that Usik and Fury are equal, and the Briton has a chance to win if he is better prepared functionally.

- At the same time, Russian fighter Mikhail Malyutin suggested that Usik is much better prepared for the fight, but Fury had to do some work on his mistakes, so it will be harder for the Ukrainian to defend his titles. Former world heavyweight boxing champion Nikolay Valuev said that if in the first fight the favorite for him was Fury, now he considers Usik as such.

How much will earn boxers and whether to wait for the third fight

- Officially, information about the fees for this fight is not disclosed. According to the media, the total prize money will be $190 million. Regardless of the result, it will be distributed in favor of Usik at a ratio of 60 to 40%. The Ukrainian boxer will receive $114 million, that is, almost as much as for his entire career. Fury is provided with $76 million. Separately, the rivals will earn on paid streaming subscriptions.

- After this fight, a third fight between Usik and Fury is possible. Such a possibility allows not only the British boxer, but also the main organizer Turki Al al-Sheikh. The probability of a new fight will increase in the case of a victory of Fury over Usik, who will request a rematch.

- If the rivals do not agree on a third meeting in the ring, there is a high probability that the winner will fight Daniel Dubois, who holds the IBF world title. This fight will be the unification fight in the heavyweight division and will determine the absolute champion.