Heavyweight rivals meet for WBA, WBC and WBO titlesMain event expected to start around 11pm GMT/6pm ETBluesky Bryan at @BryanAGraham or email him
Hello and welcome to tonight’s heavyweight championship rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury. We’re back at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena seven months after Usyk toppled Fury to become the sport’s first undisputed heavyweight champion in a quarter-century. Will the 2012 Olympic and two-weight champion from Ukraine double down on his supremacy in boxing’s prestige division? Or will it be 2 Fury 2 Furious as the Gypsy King restores his place atop the heavyweight throne?
Of the many well-documented reasons for boxing’s protracted retreat toward the periphery of the mainstream, the lack of clearly identifiable champions rates high on a competitive list. At one time the heavyweight championship of the world was the most prestigious title in sports, yet the lack of central authority has left us with four major sanctioning bodies that have generally created confusion among casual observers while devaluing the currency of a title.
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