Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk engage in tense 12-minute staredown at press conference
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Both champion and challenger were tight lipped at the event, before sharing a remarkably long face-off. Neither Tyson Fury nor Oleksandr Usyk would back down from their face-off on Thursday, as they stared each other down for a remarkable 12 minutes after their press conference.
![[Oleksandr Usyk (left) and Tyson Fury could not be separated for 12 minutes]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/12/19/17/newFile-5.jpg)
On Saturday (21 December) in Riyadh, Fury will try to avenge the sole loss of his professional career, after he was outpointed by Usyk in the same Saudi city in May. Usyk’s victory kept him unbeaten and saw him become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 24 years, though he vacated the IBF belt in June. This weekend, therefore, the Ukrainian will defend the unified gold against the Briton.
Neither boxer had much to say at Thursday’s press conference for their rematch, but Fury did warn Usyk: “I’m gonna dish out a whole lot of pain. I’m gonna put this f***er in the hurt locker for sure. “I’ve got nothing to say apart from there’s gonna be a whole lot of hurt and pain in this fight – you watch. The first fight I talked, I joked – my whole career [I did that].”.
The fighters then engaged in a 12-minute long face-off, with both men refusing to back away. At the seven-minute mark, WBC president Mauricio Sulaiman tried to separate the boxers, to no avail. After nine minutes had passed, Fury and Usyk began trading words, though there was no mic to convey what was said.
