Usyk and Fury’s titanic battle flies under radar in surreal surrounds of Riyadh
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These complex, contradictory heavyweights are ready to recommence hostilities – let’s hope someone tells the Saudis. Fight week in Riyadh, at least to an outsider, is an often ghostly experience. Unless you’re up close and talking to the actual fighters, to Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, or seeing them step off a parked jumbo jet to make their outrageously grand arrivals in front of a small group of local dignitaries, chattering YouTube outlets and jaded reporters, boxing feels like a mysterious rumour from the other side of the world.
![[Donald McRae]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/uploads/2018/01/15/Donald_McRae,_L.png?width=180&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
It’s hard to gauge how many of the 7 million people who live in this vast and teeming city are even aware that Usyk will defend his world heavyweight titles against Fury on Saturday night, in a rematch of their classic first fight in Riyadh just seven months ago. I have spent hours this week in the company of various Uber drivers, as we crisscross the city, and the chattier men tend to ask two questions: where are you from? Why are you here?.
![[Tyson Fury in the ring during the open workout in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/5577ef5481420fe35678b2e64df624a4e4d74f10/0_157_5860_3515/master/5860.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
My first answer has elicited some pretty informed insights into the surprising rise of Chelsea this season, the inexplicable loss of Arsenal’s creativity and the slow implosion of Manchester City. It says something for the Premier League’s global sway that there is such knowledge of their teams – but it also shows immediate evidence of a real football culture in Saudi Arabia.
The country has just been awarded the 2034 World Cup, in an outrageous stunt engineered by Gianni Infantino and Fifa, but my Uber drivers seem more intent on telling me how much they dislike Cristiano Ronaldo despite his enduring presence in this city while playing for Al-Nassr. They do not seem to care too much either for Neymar, recovering from yet another injury at Al-Hilal. Similar knockabout stuff can be heard in taxis around the world every day.
