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Neither Tyson Fury nor Oleksandr Usyk would back down from their face-off on Thursday, as they stared each other down for a remarkable 12 minutes after their press conference.
On Saturday (21 December) in Riyadh, Fury will try to avenge the sole loss of his professional career, after he was outpointed by Usyk in the same Saudi city in May.
Usyk’s victory kept him unbeaten and saw him become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years, though he vacated the IBF belt in June. This weekend, therefore, the Ukrainian will defend the unified gold against the Briton.
Neither boxer had much to say at Thursday’s press conference for their rematch, but Fury did warn Usyk: “I’m gonna dish out a whole lot of pain. I’m gonna put this f***er in the hurt locker for sure.
“I’ve got nothing to say apart from there’s gonna be a whole lot of hurt and pain in this fight – you watch. The first fight I talked, I joked – my whole career [I did that].”
The fighters then engaged in a 12-minute long face-off, with both men refusing to back away.
At the seven-minute mark, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman tried to separate the boxers, to no avail. After nine minutes had passed, Fury and Usyk began trading words, though there was no mic to convey what was said.
Fury, 36, did most of the talking, however, before he and his 37-year-old rival finally went their separate ways at the 12-minute mark.
The tension only elevated anticipation for Saturday’s main event at the Kingdom Arena, where Fury and Usyk squared off in May.
On that occasion, Usyk was a split-decision winner, having come close to finishing Fury in round nine. The victory secured the southpaw – a former undisputed cruiserweight champion – the WBC heavyweight title, which he added to his unified gold. On Saturday, Usyk defends the WBC, WBO and WBA belts against Fury.
