On 21st December 2024, seven months after their first ground-shaking battle, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will face each other in the ring once again. As last time, the bout will take place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
When the pair clashed in May of this year, the judges' split decision favoured Usyk, although Fury was convinced that he had won the majority of the rounds. The result saw Tyson Fury defeated for the first time in his professional career. The only other blemish on his impressive winning record was his drawn 2018 fight against Deontay Wilder in Los Angeles. Following the epic battle against Usyk, Fury, citing a rematch clause, stated that he wanted to face the Ukrainian again.
Cheering for Fury
As regular readers of the Regtransfers magazine, The World of Personal Number Plates, will know, we do like our boxers. Where professional pugilists are concerned there are few names, and few men, as big as Tyson Fury. We were delighted to feature an exclusive interview with Tyson in issue 57. We visited him at his gym to chat about his career, family and the new personal registration we had supplied to Tyson's wife, Paris.
During our interview, we found Tyson Fury very generous with his time and very honest and forthcoming on every topic we broached, from family life to mental health and more. Needless to say, we will be cheering for him when he steps into the ring on 21st December.
What do the pundits say?
"Expert" opinions, like political polls, are wrong as often as they are right, so amateur opinions may be as valid as those of the professionals. The ever-mischievous Mail Online has made much of fans' concerns over Tyson Fury's fitness for the rematch. Fury himself has said that he has been working hard to prepare for the fight.
Another legendary former British fighter, Lennox Lewis, has said that it'll be tough, but he thinks Tyson Fury has the experience to win against Usyk, and said, "I think Fury learnt what he needs to do next time because he didn't do enough. He needs to do a lot more. I like him a bit heavier for his fights and not moving around as much. He has to conquer his own self first. He's been through these things before so I think he can do it because he knows what to do."
Promoter Frank Warren also believes Fury has what it will take. "He knows what he's got to do. [...] He's been in the ring with him. He's seen the guy's strengths and weaknesses.
"They've shared that ring. They've shared that unbelievable going to the well, giving everything. They've both done that. They each know each other's weaknesses and can exploit them. Who's going to have the wherewithal to do that and for me, my gut feeling about it and I like to think what I know about the sport, I think he [Fury] will capitalise on it."
Meanwhile, another of Regtransfers' favourites, Daniel Dubois, whom we interviewed for issue 53 of the magazine, just seems to want to fight the winner of the Fury/Usyk battle. Sky Sports quoted Daniel as saying, "Just going to rip right through them. If it's Usyk then it'll be revenge. Or if it's Fury I'm ready to cover that territory as well. We'll deal with it when we get there."
We're not even going to attempt a prediction, we're just going to wait and see what happens on December 21st. Whatever the outcome, the winner will have had to earn the title.
