Usyk vs Fury 2: Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury look to settle their rivalry in heavyweight championship rematch | Boxing News

The length of the beard, the kissing of the cross, or the bowing of the victor’s gaze seem to be such trivial matters that the quarrel over them is nothing more than a trifle.

But Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury are two of the greatest heavyweights in the world today, and when it comes to their rivalry, they want to win on every count.

Fury had never lost as a professional boxer until he met Usyk in Riyadh earlier this year, a thunderous fight that decided the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years and the first champion of the four-belt era.

It was Usyk who won a split but compelling decision and secured his place in the history books.

Fury now wants to regain the WBO, WBC and WBA world titles Sky Sports box office return match on Saturday night. He wants to show that there is no one out there who has beaten him in the end, and he wants to extend his own legacy by establishing himself as the undisputed comeback master.

So what does a beard mean?

The argument was apparently about whether Fury’s full beard could soften the punch or interfere with the trajectory of the punch, but when you consider that Usyk has now moved up to the heavyweights and hurt Fury so much in the first fight. , that only the ropes, in their famous ninth round, prevented him from crashing to the canvas, hardly a big deal Ukrainian.

The argument is more. It’s about Usyk’s team wanting to take an element out of Fury.The Briton has gone into what he describes as “beast mode” for this training session, with Fury holed up in Malta for his preparations, barely speaking to his wife and family.

In Riyadh this week, in a leather jacket and beard, Fury has been belligerent and almost unapproachable to those outside his entourage.

He wants to knock Usyk down to cruiserweight again. “He needs to,” Fury said Sky Sports. “I’m going to beat him up really bad.”

This version of Tyson Fury, even more menacing than before, should be an improved fighter.

“You’ll see better this time, I’m sure. I believe I’ll be better than last time, and I shouldn’t be much better, because it was a very exciting fight,” he said.

The first fight was well balanced. Back in May, Fury seemed to be reveling in heavyweight competition of the highest caliber.Animated for his walk, he put on a show in the ring and claimed to thrive in the atmosphere.

“I loved the whole fight. Great entrance, I thought it was a fantastic performance from me. I thought it was a great performance how many. good performances and I know I didn’t get a W. But I still thought it was a great performance 1 out of 10 I thought I did 10,” Fury insisted.

Then the exhibition cruise could be a mistake. He was doing it to show how good a boxer he is, to try to compensate and confuse Usyk, and maybe even to buy himself some space and breathing space.

It was a facade, a trick that Usik did not fall for. He stuck to his cause, took his licks, which were also painful in the first half of the fight, and didn’t leave Fury alone as he promised he would.

But eliminating that, with more practice and defensive tightening, could make all the difference.Although the Briton thought it was the best he’s boxed in years, he needs to make some vital changes for the rematch.

“Sometimes you look at a fight and I think I didn’t do well, next time I could do better if I did this, that and that,” Fury said.

“But for that style of boxing, I don’t think I did anything wrong. I thought I had a great performance and I know I’ve seen reports that Tyson is down, he’s down and this and that, but I did it. Show it in that fight if it’s me.

“I thought it was probably the best performance I’ve had in five years. Since Wilder II, for sure, and that’s almost five years ago.”

To think he was boxing almost as well as he’s ever been, but still suffered his first loss, shows just how good Usyk is. But Fury seemed strangely excited to face him again.

If Usyk’s team wanted to remove the beard, Fury adopted his opponent, the Briton’s team sought to remove the source of inspiration from the rival.

During the first fight, a hard-fought contest under intense pressure, Usyk sat in his corner between rounds, looked up at the sky and kissed the cross.

Usik told the media this week. “This cross was a gift from the head monk in one of the Greek monasteries I go to. This cross gives me strength and leads me to victory.”

Whether it was the cross or his spirit that guided him, he overcame and dug his way to victory.

Of course, all it takes is a wrong camera angle and an unknown object pressing against the fighter’s lips to fuel the speculation, so Fury’s team insisted that any cross kissed in Usik’s corner should be removed for testing to dispel suspicion.

That might be a reasonable point. But that argument still hinges on one small point, something Usyk wants and something Fury’s side doesn’t want him to have.

These are just the early skirmishes leading up to the championship match, and they won’t decide the fight.

Usyk, of course, has other sources of inspiration. He is pious, carries his country’s flag with him and is proud to represent his people. He is also driven by the memory of his father, who never saw him become a world champion.

“Of course he is present. After all he has done for me, it could never be otherwise. But now he comes to me less in my dreams, or not at all, because I said he must not; Usik said about his father.

“But maybe he’s closer to the fight. But I remember him, I look at his photos. I think he’s still with me somewhere, maybe he’s sitting behind this guy so you can see me better.’

Usik always keeps himself separate. A difficult man to read, sure, but always on his own terms, Fury likes to trap opponents in psychological games, but Usyk is the only one who never seems to play.

The Ukrainian strives to improve himself. He revealed something of his own thinking when he told it Sky Sports“Life goes in cycles. You either try to live righteously and do the right thing, or you don’t and end up a nobody.

“We’re all flawed. We’re all flawed to some degree. But some of us are striving for something better. While others don’t even bother.

“Here’s how I would put it. A bee doesn’t need to prove to a fly that honey is better than garbage. But a fly will always argue that garbage is better than honey.”

He reveals something of himself, but it seems that the real Usik is something well hidden behind the riddles.

While the battle of skill, technique and physicality between them can only take place in the allotted 12 rounds of their fights, the battle of wills has extended from their last bout to this moment.

This was demonstrated by an unusually prolonged staredown between the two men after a recent press conference.

It started off intense, went on for so long that it started to feel ridiculous, and then got even longer until it was gorgeous again.

You wondered what they were seeing as they looked at each other. They certainly didn’t see the nervous crowd of men around them, wondering how to intervene, how to separate the two without hurting either of the fighters or causing an escalation that could happen. didn’t hold back.

They did not see themselves in each other. The two are diametrically opposed characters, even if their pride and animosity are underpinned by a rarely expressed respect for their rival.

They couldn’t see the future or Saturday night’s fight. If their mind was elsewhere, it would be easy for one to get distracted and move on.

Instead, they must have seen only that moment. Suddenly, each had decided that he would not be the one to break, to be the first to look away or weaken. So they looked and will still look at the image they see of each other from now until the fight and as long as it lasts until they see themselves at the end of it.

The massive heavyweight rematch between Alexander Usyk and Tyson Fury will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office on Saturday 21 December. Book Usyk v Fury 2 now!