Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury will meet in their much anticipated heavyweight title rematch on December 21 at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, as the Ukrainian attempts to defend his Ring Magazine, WBC, WBO, and WBA titles against The Ring's No. 1 rated contender.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) beat Fury (34-1-1) via split decision on May 18 to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years. Fury started the fight strong against the undersized Usyk but faded late after he was knocked down in the ninth round. Usyk landed 170 of 407 of his punches while Fury countered with 157 of 496 of his own. Two judges awarded Usyk the fight via scores 115-112 and 114-113 while a third judge had it 114-113 in favor of Fury.
To get a glimpse of how the rematch will unfold, The Ring met with former four-division champion and Hall of Fame fighter turned coach Roy Jones Jr. to get his input, analysis, and final prediction.
“The rematch is a very difficult thing to call. Fury does really well in rematches, so Fury is maybe even the favorite in the rematch. Although, at the end of the first fight, he did not have the momentum leaving the ring. Usyk is coming with the momentum for the rematch, and momentum is a hard thing to shift. Fury is going to have to figure out how to shift the momentum. I don't know if Fury has the power to do that. If he was a power puncher, he could shift the momentum easily if he lands a big shot. He's not a power puncher like that though.
“I think, in my humble opinion, it will be very difficult for Fury to shift the momentum back to his field. If he can, he'll have something. If he can't, then Usyk can continue the dominance that he had in the first fight.
“A lot goes into the preparation for a rematch. You have to train yourself to forget about the first time or remember what you did the first time, and fix it the second time. That's the biggest thing – trying to correct your mistakes from the first fight to the second.
“Fury allowed Usyk to come in and fight like he was the bigger man. You can't do that when you are fighting the smaller man. You must come in and make him understand that he’s in unfamiliar territory and make him feel that he's in a place that he's not supposed to be at.
“When I fought Felix Trinidad, I did not give him any inclination that he was going to push me back and bully me. Why? Because he was moving up from 147 pounds. A welterweight had no business chasing a light heavyweight around the ring. If he does, then the light heavyweight aint trying to win, not mentally, because, when do they do that? That's like somebody coming to your block or house and running you off. Are you crazy?
“It's hard for me to say who will win. I like both fighters. They are both absolutely awesome fighters, but I will probably go with Usyk.”
Manouk Akopyan is the lead U.S. writer for The Ring. Follow him on X and Instagram.