Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury have officially weighed in for the most significant fight in the heavyweight division.
They first met back in May for the undisputed championship. Usyk ran out a split decision points winner, helped by a spectacular ninth round in which he had Fury seriously hurt and in danger of being stopped.
The Brit immediately activated his contractual rematch clause and is gunning for the knockout this time around.
After a fiery face off at the final press conference, the pair took to the scales.
Fury weighed in at a career heaviest 281lbs, though he was fully clothed and wearing a leather jacket. Usyk weighed 226lbs, a few pounds heavier than the first meeting, but again was fully clothed.
Fury dropped weight considerably for the first fight. In his previous outing against Francis Ngannou he was a massive 277 pounds, shedding 15 to face Usyk at 262. Many believe a heavier bulk points to him going for the stoppage early, although he has been known to defy the odds as a big man throughout his career.
Fans were split on the news, with one on social media saying it was clear ‘The Gypsy King’ was coming for an early knockout. Another said 281 – albeit not the stripped down number – ‘is too big’ and that ‘if he’s expecting to lean on Uysk he’s going to get caught with something.’
Usyk has remained relatively consistent with his weight since moving away from the 200 pounds cruiserweight limit in 2019. He was 215 and 217 in his firs two contests before tipping the scales at 221 for his unified world title win against Anthony Joshua in 2021. Since then he has hovered around that number, coming in at 223 for the first Fury fight.
All the talking is now done for the pair of elite heavyweights. The Ukrainian puts his WBC, WBO and WBA belts on the line against a dialled-in Fury tomorrow night in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
