Whether you think Oleksandr Usyk will go 2-0 up, or if you’re picking Tyson Fury to equal the score; the biggest winners of this weekend’s rematch are undoubtedly the fans.
However, as this iconic rivalry enters its second chapter in Riyadh, one former UFC champion is arguing that victory for Oleksandr Usyk could come at the detriment of the sport overall.
Former UFC double champion sounds the alarm ahead of Usyk vs Fury 2
Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk represent the two greatest fighters in this modern era of heavyweight boxing, with their rematch going down in just a few hours’ time in the dunes of Saudi Arabia.
Whilst the entire combat sports world is counting down to what should be another fabulous night of action, former UFC double champion Henry Cejudo believes that victory for the Ukrainian could “hurt” the sport.
“If I am looking at this fight as a whole, who would I like to see [win], I would like to see Tyson Fury go out there and become lineal heavyweight champion of the world,” said Cejudo in his YouTube breakdown: “But how can I doubt somebody who’s beat everybody under the sun?
“When it comes down to technique, tactics and actual skills, [Usyk] is the best, he’s the best dude. He’s not the biggest heavyweight but he knows how to mix his fighting… For that reason, I’ve got to give the crown to the undisputed champ.”
The former flyweight and bantamweight champion declared that whilst he’s predicting Usyk to win, he’d much prefer to see Tyson Fury get his hand raised for the ‘greater good’ of the sport.
“I mean there’s [still] a big fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua – boxing wants to see that fight; it would be the biggest boxing fight in UK history and the PPV numbers would be at an outstanding rate of sales.
“If [Usyk] wins, I hate to say it, but it hurts boxing a little bit… He’s not as flamboyant or charismatic as a guy like Tyson Fury – who is the guy who will promote the sport a lot more, that’s Tyson Fury.”
Whilst Cejudo might be correct in that Fury is the more flamboyant character of the two, with ‘The Gypsy King’ having a far bigger fanbase in the United States, we’d push back on his take that an Usyk win would ‘hurt’ the sport.
Oleksandr Usyk is an inspiration, and a bonified superstar here in Europe; having taken the sport’s popularity to new heights thanks to his perfect title runs at both cruiserweight and heavyweight.
His two fights against Anthony Joshua also garnered over 1.2 million PPV buys each, with the first Fury fight earning around 1.5 million buys; by comparison, ‘The Gypsy King’ vs Deontay Wilder 2 drew 1.2 million.
Fellow UFC legend sees a ‘controversial ending’ to Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk 2
Should Tyson Fury get the victory on December 21, or if there’s a controversial ending to their rematch, we can expect the trilogy to be booked sometime around mid-2025 – and that’s exactly what UFC legend Dan Hardy predicts will happen.
In an exclusive interview with Bloody Elbow, the popular ‘Outlaw’ would state that he “can see it going either way,” on Saturday evening.
“Ultimately, I always seem to have a slight bias towards the technician, so I would go with Usyk because of his speed with the diversity of his movement and footwork. But the sheer size of Fury, coupled with his fight IQ, makes it a very challenging fight to call.
“I’m leaning towards Usyk, but I could see it being a controversial decision, and we’re going to be running it back again.”
Fury vs Usyk 2 goes down live on Saturday, December 21 from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.