Fury vs Usyk: Full undercard, order and times of the preliminary fights
The two best heavyweights in the world will collide in Riyadh in the category’s first unification fight in the four-belt era.
Tyson Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) or Oleksandr Usyk (21-0-0, 14 KOs), one of them will be the first undisputed heavyweight champion. On Saturday, May 18, they will unify the division for the first time since there are four belts -WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBF-, at the Kingdom Arena, in Saudi Arabia. The Middle East country has positioned itself as the new home of boxing.
The fight was scheduled for February 17 but had to be postponed after the Brit got injured while sparring, a cut above his eye. The clash has attracted lots of expectations all over the world. The Saudi minister Turki Al-Alshikh is in charge of organizing the best boxing events, specifically heavyweight bouts, and threatened the boxers with a $10 million fine if any of them doesn’t step in the ring on fight night.
Jai Opetaia vs Mairis Briedis
The co-main event will see Australian Jai Opetaia (24-0-0, 19 KOs) take on Latvian Mairis Briedis (28-2-0, 20 KOs) in a rematch with the IBF cruiserweight belt at stake. In July 2022, Opetaia took the title from the Breidis by unanimous decision. Opetaia vacated the IBF belt to take on Ellis Zorro and now will fight for it again in a second exciting encounter vs. the Latvian.
Joe Cordina vs Anthony Cacace
One of the card’s biggest attractions will be Joe Cordina (17-0-0, 9 KOs). The Welsh boxer is undefeated and has a long history in Europe. He will put his IBF featherweight belt on the line against Anthony Cacace (21-1-0, 7 KOs), who will defend his IBO championship. The Northern Ireland boxer has only lost one fight on points, and it was about seven years ago.
Lightweight, cruiserweight, and heavyweight clashes
Before the title fights, some highly contested bouts will open the card to create an exciting boxing atmosphere. The British Mark Chamberlain (15-0-0, 11 KOs) will face the Nigerian Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab (23-1-0, 16 KOs) in a promising lightweight battle.
Before that, the Russian Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) will face the undefeated Swede Robin Sirwan Safar (16-0-0, 12 KOs) at cruiserweight. The undefeated heavyweights Agit Kabayel (24-0-0, 16 KOs) and Frank Sánchez (24-0-0, 17) will go head-to-head in one of the most explosive fights of the event.
Fury vs Usyk fight card
- Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk: For the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO heavyweight titles
- Jai Opetaia vs. Mairis Briedis; For the vacant IBF cruiserweight title
- Joe Cordina vs. Anthony Cacace; For the Cordina's IBF super featherweight title
- Frank Sanchez vs. Agit Kabayel; Heavyweight
- Moses Itauma vs. Ilija Mezencev; Heavyweight
- Mark Chamberlain vs. Joshua Wahab; Lightweight
- Sergey Kovalev vs. Robin Sirawn Safar; Light heavyweight
- Daniel Lapin vs. Octavio Pudivtr; Light heavyweight
- David Nyika vs. Michael Seitz; Cruiserweight
- Isaac Lowe vs. Hasibullah Ahmadi; Featherweight
When does the Fury vs Usyk card start?
In the United States, the fight card is set to start on Saturday, May 18, at noon ET / 9 a.m. PT. The Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk ring walks are scheduled for 6 p.m. ET / 3 p.m. PT, although these timings are subject to change.