00:00Alexander Usyk and Tyson Fury face off for the second time on Saturday night in a huge
00:06heavyweight title rematch in Riyadh. I'm here with George Flood to preview the fight.
00:09A thrilling first meeting in May went the full 12 rounds and Usyk eventually won on
00:13a split decision with two of the three judges awarding the fight to the Ukrainian.
00:17It was the first defeat of Fury's 36-fight professional career as Usyk extended his unbeaten
00:22record to 22-0. It also saw Usyk claim all the heavyweight belts, adding Fury's WBC
00:28gold to his WBA, IBF, WBO and IBO titles. That made him the first undisputed heavyweight
00:35champion since Lennox Lewis in 2000, with Usyk having also previously reigned as undisputed
00:40at Cruiserweight. A rematch was soon confirmed and, seven months
00:44on the pair are heading back to Saudi Arabia to do it all again this weekend.
00:48However, this time undisputed status won't be on the line after Usyk quickly relinquished
00:52the IBF title which went to interim champion Daniel Dubois before he retained it by knocking
00:57out Anthony Joshua in September. Usyk is the odds-on favourite to beat his rival for
01:01a second time, but Fury will be no pushover as he plots revenge at the Kingdom Arena.
01:06So, back to Saudi Arabia, two of the biggest boxers on the planet, who's winning?
01:10Well, I think a lot's going to depend on Fury's approach this time. I mean, he thought he
01:14won the first fight and he certainly had his moments but he sort of said afterwards that
01:17he felt he was too cautious. This time it sounds like he's going to come in a lot heavier
01:21they're saying. He sort of said he's going to go straight for the knockout this time
01:25so we could see a much more explosive fight with Fury hunting the knockout.
01:29Surely Fury won't want to leave it to the judges this time?
01:32Well, exactly. Fury felt he won that first fight. I think he called it the daftest decision
01:37in the history of boxing afterwards. So, yeah, he certainly won't want to leave it to the
01:41judges again.
01:42Would it be fair to say Fury's never beaten an opponent such as Usyk?
01:46Yeah, I think it'd be fair to say it's been quite a while now as well since we saw the
01:49best of Fury. I mean, you look back at that Francis Ngannou fight where that was when
01:54he took probably a too light lead. He was expected to win it comfortably but ended up
01:57getting dropped and just squeaking out a win. I mean, before that he had the Derek Chisora
02:03fight and the Dillian White fight where he didn't really have to work too hard in either
02:07so this is a completely different test for him.
02:10So what happens if Fury loses?
02:11Well, both men have said they won't retire regardless of the result of the weekend. Fury's
02:16spoken before this year about maybe having five more fights left at the top level. You've
02:20got the Anthony Joshua fight still out there and Usyk's spoken about maybe even going back
02:25down to cruiserweight so whatever happens I don't think you'll see either man retire.
02:30And Fury or Usyk, who's your money on?
02:32I think it'll be Usyk again. Whether it's a repeat of the points win or a knockout I
02:36think will depend entirely on Fury's approach. Fury comes out very aggressive, looks for
02:42the knockout. I think Usyk is clever enough, powerful enough to make him pay. But having
02:46said that, it also wouldn't surprise me if Fury did manage to come out and get revenge
02:50and set up that huge trilogy fight.
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