Tyson Fury has the chance to claim revenge and the WBO,
WBC and WBA heavyweight titles when he takes on Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday in
Saudi Arabia.
Usyk beat Fury on points to become the
undisputed champion in May, the first in the four-belt era, but has dropped the
IBF belt for the rematch.
Fury, 36, is facing the only man to inflict defeat on him in
the professional ranks.
The Briton is a slight underdog as he aims to become the
first fighter to beat 37-year-old Usyk.
You can follow live text commentary from 20:00 GMT on
Saturday on the OceanNewsUK website and app, with radio coverage starting at
21:00 on OceanNewsUK.
Usyk and Fury's ringwalks are targeted for 22:15, meaning
the fight will probably start around 22:30.
Will Fury become a three-time heavyweight world champion or
will Usyk's undefeated streak continue?
OceanNewsUK has asked the world of boxing for their
predictions.
Former world champion Amir Khan: "Fury
knows what he has to do to win. He can't make it close so it's going to be
fireworks. Usyk, this time doesn't get the win. Fury will get the win."
Middleweight Chris Eubank Jr: "Usyk is the
number one heavyweight in the world right now. I think it's going to be tough
to defeat him. I think he's even going to stop Fury this time."
Snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan: "I'm
going to go for Fury, I've heard he's had a much better training camp. Maybe
that 5%, 10% that was lacking in the first fight will make the
difference."
Retired world champion and promoter Oscar De La
Hoya: "Tyson Fury. Coming into the second fight as a loser, that
mentality will take him over the top. I feel he will win by knockout in the
later rounds."
Heavyweight Joseph Parker: "It's going to
be Tyson to win. The reason I say that is his approach is very different and he
wants to do damage. I believe he is going to do damage and get the
victory."
Retired multiple-weight world champion Carl
Frampton: "I think Fury wins the fight. If he fights like a
heavyweight, like the man four stone heavier and goes forward and man-handles
him, I think Fury wins."
British heavyweight champion Fabio Wardley: "As
a boxer and as a person, Fury is capable of making the adjustments to beat Usyk
but do I think he will actually be able to and whether the ambition is still
there? Without being offensive, it may be lacking a little. With Usyk, he is so
stoic and stalwart and 100% focused on getting the job done. I think it will be
a hard task to rip the belts away from him."
Former undisputed heavyweight world champion Lennox
Lewis: "Tyson Fury wins this because he is the bigger man. He
will use his jab and needs to throw more punches than the first fight. He can't
muck around and needs to be totally serious. I always say the bigger man always
wins if they have the same skills."
Welterweight world champion Natasha Jonas: "I
think Fury will be more on it and he can do it this time."
Heavyweight Lawrence Okolie: "I will back
Fury, which sounds insane because we've seen Usyk do it countless times and has
even beat Fury already. It was such a close fight and Fury still has another
style to try. He has an opportunity to not try and outbox the boxer as he did
and try to be more aggressive. He can be a big strong guy and back it up with
boxing skill. At times when he was stepping off, maybe he'll now step forward.
Maybe it makes it more ugly, messy and gritty. What I will say is that one of
them will win more convincingly than last time and that could also be Usyk if
he stays consistent like his last fight. If he's in even better shape than
Fury, he could win by a bigger margin than last time."
Heavyweight Frazer Clarke: "Fury can make
amends and you can never doubt him, but I do think Usyk will win."
Light-welterweight Jack Catterall: "We’ve
seen a lot of good early rounds from Fury, so it’ll be interesting to see if he
has made adjustments and whether they can be enough against Usyk, who can adapt
to anything. As a British fighter I want Fury to win, but my head says it won’t
be enough against a fighter like Usyk."
American fighter Regis Prograis: "I picked
Fury the first time, I’ll pick Fury again. Usyk is a beast, you can put him up
there as one of the best ever, he’s hot, he has beaten everyone – AJ twice,
Fury, Danny Dubois. But I have got to go with the big man."
Former world champion Sunny Edwards: "The
first fight was competitive but I think Usyk won conclusively enough. At any
time it is very hard to pick against Usyk, even if you are as big and as good
as Fury. Usyk gets in the ring and is on a different rhythm, he's on a
different engine. Usyk just seems to have this momentum and he's always making
his opponent work a lot harder. I have to go with Usyk but you can't write Fury
off. When you write Fury off that's when he does something he isn't supposed
to."
Matchroom promoter Eddie Hearn: "I have a
lot of history with Usyk but I'm backing Tyson."
British flyweight Galal Yafai: "I'm going
Usyk again. I like Fury and I like Usyk, but there's one thing me and Usyk have
in common, we are both Olympic champions, everything else I don't come close to
him."
Super-flyweight prospect Shannon Ryan: "It
will be the same result, Usyk by points. I think it will be competitive and
Fury will bring more and be more switched on but Usyk will take over from round
eight onwards."
Scotland's first female world champion Hannah Rankin: "I’ve
been tearing my hair over this one, it’s taken me so long to come to a
decision. It may be a little bit controversial but I will go with Fury. I think
the loss has really got to him. He’s training really hard and has the bit
between his teeth. Normally rematches go the same way but I will go with Fury
on points. He will learn from his mistakes and be super focused."
Heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma: "Fury
can win but it's whether he makes the necessary adjustments. I haven't seen
Usyk's camp though, I need to see both camps."
Retired world champion Richie Woodhall: "It
has to be a disciplined display but I think Fury will do it. Most people are
saying Usyk again and he might raise his game but Fury has the physical
advantage. As long as he's had a good camp and he comes in as fit as he can be.
I think this could be the best we see of Fury."
South African heavyweight Kevin Lerena: "I
believe Tyson will knock him out. We know Tyson can box. He was boxing his ears
off and having a great time before he got caught and the fight swung in Usyk's
favour. Take away those rounds where he had to recover, Tyson would have won."
Boxing coach Dave Coldwell: "I wouldn't say
it's a 50-50 fight, but I would lean to Usyk on a 55-45. If Usyk still has
enough in the tank, he beats him again. He's very good at riding out little
crisis moments and he's always done it throughout his career. He's been hurt
several times but rides out the rocky moments. He will probably get hurt again
in this fight, but he doesn't panic and knows how to handle adversity."
Heavyweight David Allen: "I thought Tyson
would win the first fight and that he would stop him. Usyk forced the pace, he
made him work. A lot of people say that Tyson dropped the ball. I think Tyson
wins the rematch. I don't think there's a heavyweight out there that beats him.
You just don't know when you're over the cliff. You can spar all you want, but
you just never know. I would go for Tyson to win because he has a touch of
genius but you can say that about Usyk."
