Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury engage in a ten-minute staredown

By: Sean Crose

“I’m going to let out a lot of pain,” Tyson Fury said during his final press conference ahead of his rematch on Saturday against WBA, WBO and WBC heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk. “I have nothing to say, far from the fact that there will be a lot of pain and pain in this fight, look. That’s all I have to say.” And that was pretty much all Fury had to say. After losing the first fight to Usyk by the slimmest of margins, the often bombastic Fury was a lot more serious on Thursday than he expected. be often.

For his part, Usyk performed well, as always. Unlike Fury, the man never presented himself as a showman. He is, in every sense of the world, absolutely a professional. This does not mean, however, that the boy is not willing to stand his ground. Because after the conference, when the two fighters faced each other in front of the camera, neither took a step back. The two fighters, Usyk and Fury, literally stared at each other for ten minutes. There was no pushing or forcing. Nor were many words spoken. There was simply a psychological contest between two fighters, neither of whom was willing to give the other an advantage.

The reason both men appeared as serious and determined as they did on Thursday is that this will be an extremely serious fight. Even though the IBF title won’t be on the line, there’s no doubt that the winner of Saturday’s fight will be king of the heavyweight division (at least, maybe, until the third fight). Fury, for one, appears to have no illusions about the kind of challenge he will face this weekend. Even though he says he felt he won his first fight with Usyk in May, there is no doubt that Usyk was the biggest challenge this great heavyweight has ever faced in his life.

As for Usyk, he’s clearly trying to erase any question marks about how dominant he truly is. While Daniel Dubois will certainly give Usyk a run for his money in the summer of 2023, Fury has always made it difficult for Usyk to escape with their fight. Fury kept things close until the final bell. Fury doesn’t want the match to end in cards this time. Chances are Usyk doesn’t either. When you’re engaged in the kind of high-level fighting that Saturday promises to be, though, you get your wins in every way possible.