The rest of the card for Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk has been announced, much to the dismay of boxing fans online.
It is now less than two months until Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk meet in an undisputed heavyweight title fight on the 18th of May, and the undercard for this clash has officially been announced, with a lot of fans left feeling rather shortchanged at the schedule.
The pair will finally meet in the ring in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the winner becoming the first undisputed heavyweight champion since the four belts were introduced. They will also unify the division for the first time since 1999, when British great Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield. It isn’t just gold up for grabs, though, as the two will also be putting their undefeated records on the line, with neither tasting defeat yet in their professional careers.
However, this card has other big hitters to look out for, with his Excellency Turki Alalshikh attempting to go all out to make the undercard just as interesting as the main event – with his decision having mixed reactions online, depending on where you look it would seem.
The official undercard for Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk 🥊
This is 🔥🔥🔥#RingofFire| #FuryUsyk | #RiyadhSeason | May 18 | TNT Sports Box Office pic.twitter.com/oPqtcUWIr9
— Boxing on TNT Sports (@boxingontnt) March 29, 2024
The Undercard for Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk
Jai Opetaia vs. Mairis Briedis, Joe Cordins vs. Anthony Cacace, Mark Chamberlain vs. Joshua Oluwaseun, Sergey Kovalev vs. Robin Sirwan Safar, Isaac Lowe vs. Hasibullah Ahmadi, David Nyika vs. Michael Seitz, Moses Itauma vs. Ilja Mazencev
Heavyweight contenders Frank Sanchez and Agit Kabayel have been added to the ‘Ring of Fire’ undercard, with both fighters undefeated so far in their careers. Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) produced a surprising fourth-round knockout victory over Arslanbek Makhmudov on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in December, despite fans tipping him to lose. As for Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs), his seventh-round knockout win over Junior Fa kept his impressive record alive, but it was an expected victory after Fa had lost two of his previous three fights.
Also on the card is Opetaia-Briedis, with the pair already meeting in July 2022, when Opetaia beat the three-time cruiserweight champion on points. Joe Cordina will aim to defend his IBF super featherweight in a home nation meeting with Ireland’s Anthony Cacace. Mark Chamberlain will return to the Kingdom to face Joshua Oluwaseun after appearing on the Joshua-Ngannou undercard earlier this month. Chamberlain is one of Alalshikih’s favourite boxers and was handpicked by His Excellency after seeing him fight at York Hall. Itauman-Mazencev, Nyika-Seitz, Lowe-Ahmadi, and Kovalev-Safar complete the undercard for the night, with the reaction to it online being mixed.
Fans Aren’t Impressed
On X, formerly known as Twitter, many are saying that it is a “decent card” and they “don’t mind paying for it.” Whereas, over on Instagram, some are calling it the worst undercard they have seen, while the most liked comment said: “This is why UFC is so clear, never seen a stacked boxing card, and it’s always two interesting fights maximum.”
This fight was originally scheduled for February, but was moved back to May after Fury suffered a nasty cut above his eye while sparring, but based off the reaction online, fans might feel the wait has been for nothing.
