Boxing
Hype fatigue grows as the world waits for the Fury-Usyk fight in distant Riyad
Tyson Fury didn’t bother to face Oleksandr Usyk at the end of the press session for the undisputed heavyweight championship in Riyad, Saudi Arabia. (Photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
“God bless him,” Tyson Fury replied from the top table of the final post-fight press conference with Oleksandr Usyk, as he was encouraged to send his opponent a “last message.”
“Before we leave, I’m going to pray for him that we both get the ring out in one piece and go home to our families,” the 35-year-old continued, “because that’s what it’s all about.”
It remains unclear whether Fury, starting the week with the biggest fight of his career, was asked about the recent tragic death of British pro debutant Sherif Lawal. In many ways it is also almost irrelevant. When he found himself in the soulless Saudi city of Riyad at 10 p.m., what else could he have said?
He and Usyk were repeatedly asked about each other before and after Fury’s victory over Francis Ngannou at the same venue in October, ahead of their fight in December 2023. They were repeatedly asked about each other again, until their boss the February deadline was pushed back, and since then they have repeatedly answered questions about themselves.
Their paths crossed on Monday at the luxurious Hilton Hotel, when they conducted countless interviews. They spoke again at a gigantic event Tuesday night at BLVD City, perhaps the least evocative entertainment center that exists in the Middle East. Twenty-four hours later, on the same stage they “came to”, they held open training sessions – and another 24 hours later, they returned to the same place, sitting at the top table of a press conference aimed at publicizing them to fight again.
It was repeatedly mentioned that 25 years had passed since the last undisputed heavyweight title fight, that Lennox Lewis and the equally great Evander Holyfield were fighters involved, and even that Emanuel Steward – from the same Kronk Gym as Sugahill Steward, Fury’s trainer on Saturday – was involved. The places where Lewis and Holyfield – who traveled to Riyadh – fought were much less frequently mentioned, and that may be because their rematch in Las Vegas and first fight at Fresh York’s Madison Square Garden offer a story richer than God. Saudi Arabians would not be allowed to buy.
The 1999 fights between Evander Holyfield and Lennox Lewis for undisputed heavyweight supremacy took place in Fresh York and Las Vegas to much fanfare.
If Fury’s reluctance to become a showman on Thursday night, as an almost unprecedented number of broadcasters hope, is a reflection not only of his respect for Usyk but also his focus, then those around them will seem weary of the almost endless noise.
A sufficiently compelling fight in a real fight city – Vegas and Fresh York stand out – often guarantees a sense of momentum and mounting energy and anticipation that fight promoters rarely have to try strenuous convincingly. Fury-Usyk is the most crucial fight in a quarter of a century, but those involved – not helped by Riyadh’s distance from cultures where major fights are the most crucial – seem to be running out of ideas.
None of this will matter in the early hours of Sunday morning when two of the world’s top heavyweights – evenly matched and intriguingly even – will stand in opposite corners of the ring at the Kingdom Arena awaiting the opening bell. Riyad will forever be the site of a major competition – and perhaps the only one with the resources and ambition to make it happen – but unlike when Fury fought Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles in 2018, and his promoter Frank Warren would be elated to detect both tension and anticipation growing, those present in 2024 admit that there is basically no such thing in Riyad.
Usyk and Anthony Joshua weren’t even considered two of the top heavyweights in the world when they fought in London in 2021, but it’s certain that Usyk was enjoying the occasion at the impressive Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The sense of post-pandemic catharsis and celebration from the 66,287 in attendance created an unforgettable atmosphere in his finest hour; it also, to utilize one of Riyad’s redundant boxing clichés, featured him entering the lion’s den.
Usyk’s first triumph over Anthony Joshua took place in front of over 60,000 fans at the Hotspur Stadium in Tottenham, England. Photo: Mark Robinson/ Matchroom Boxing
He did the same three years earlier in Moscow, when he won so fluently against Russian Murat Gassiev in the face of almost unparalleled hostility, and even in his 2022 rematch with Joshua in Jeddah – also in Saudi Arabia – he fought for the first time since Russia launched its murderous invasion of his country and may have pushed his determination to an all-time high.
In 2024, the atrocities Russia is committing in Ukraine will be less newsworthy to those outside its borders and will not become the dominant narrative around Fury-Usyk in Saudi Arabia due to the openly positive relationship between Vladimir Putin and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman .
If the Fury-Usyk show had been held in a more dignified venue, it wouldn’t have changed the almost unparalleled charm that will exist when they finally – at a time when they are still competitive and close to their extraordinary peaks – reach the ring. But if that were the case, the final days ahead would be unforgettable and, for many involved, pleasant rather than unforgettable and worth living.
On Friday, Fury and Usyk will evaluate, may or may not look at each other when asked to fight, and will also feel the tension and some nerves that are inevitable on the eve of their biggest fight.
They will then be asked to speak again and will likely again have very little to offer, mainly because Riyad as a fighting site has so little to offer, and also because for the fourth time in four days they will again be standing in the same uninspiring place.
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