Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury fight again this weekend in a blockbuster heavyweight title rematch in Riyadh.
The sequel to the most highly-anticipated boxing bout of the year sees the self-proclaimed ‘Gypsy King’ on a quest to avenge his maiden professional defeat from back in May, when a close split-decision loss at the Kingdom Arena saw him relinquish his WBC belt as Usyk completed the set to become the first undisputed champion of the sport’s blue riband division since Lennox Lewis in 2000.
Saturday night’s huge event also offers another significant chance for other fighters to make a statement on the biggest stage through the undercard, which features plenty of other British interest and particularly at heavyweight.
Moses Itauma and Johnny Fisher are both in action, along with the likes of Ishmael Davis, Dave Allen, Peter McGrail, Rhys Edwards, Isaac Lowe and more. Here’s a full look at Saturday night’s ‘Reignited’ undercard in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk vs Fury 2 undercard
Serhii Bohachuk vs Ishmael Davis
Billed as the co-main event of the night, Leeds’ Davis got a late call to step in last week after the withdrawal of Israil Madrimov, who is also due to take on Vergil Ortiz Jr on the stacked Artur Beterbiev vs Dmitry Bivol 2 card in Riyadh in February.
Madrimov - who lost his WBA light-middleweight title to Terence Crawford in the summer - still seemed set to face Bohachuk, but had to withdraw in the end due to a case of acute bronchitis.
Now Usyk’s fellow Ukrainian will instead meet Davis as he seeks a swift response to only his second professional loss at the hands of Ortiz Jr in Las Vegas in August, in which he relinquished the WBC interim belt he had held since outpointing Brian Mendoza earlier in the year.
It’s another big opportunity at late notice for Davis, who also stepped in to replace Liam Smith and fight Josh Kelly at Wembley Stadium on the Anthony Joshua vs Daniel Dubois undercard in September, dropping a majority decision but coming close to a shock last-round knockout in a furious finish.
Moses Itauma vs Demsey McKean
The most explosive performance of the night may well come from ascending heavyweight superstar Itauma, who is on a mission to break Mike Tyson’s record as the youngest world heavyweight champion of all time.
The 19-year-old is one of the most exciting prospects anywhere in boxing having already amassed a 10-0 professional record with some vicious knockouts, needing just two rounds to blast through the experienced Mariusz Wach in a supposed step up at the O2 Arena back in July, successfully defending the WBO Inter-Continental belt he won by brushing aside Ilja Mezencev on the first Fury vs Usyk bill.
This time he’s up against fellow towering southpaw McKean, the 34-year-old Australian former MMA fighter and ex-IBF Inter-Continental champion who suffered his first boxing defeat when he was stopped late by Filip Hrgovic back in August 2023.
Johnny Fisher vs Dave Allen
The Romford Bull and the White Rhino lock horns in an all-British heavyweight affair. Alongside Itauma, Fisher will be out to make another statement after his devastating 36-second knockout of Alen Babic at the Copper Box Arena in July that saw him move to 12-0, with injury forcing the cancellation of his September meeting with Andriy Rudenko.
He’ll be a comfortable favourite against the affable ‘Doncaster De La Hoya’ Allen, who reeled off low-key four-round points victories over Jake Darnell and Amine Boucetta in Sheffield after retiring with a perforated eardrum following six rounds against Frazer Clarke in September 2023 in a fight in which the latter was repeatedly warned for low blows.
Peter McGrail vs Rhys Edwards
Liverpool’s 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medalist McGrail is another fighter facing a late change of opponent this weekend. He had originally been due to face Dennis McCann in another cracking all-British bout at super-bantamweight, only for McCann to be removed from the bill this week after returning an adverse finding in a pre-fight VADA test.
But McGrail will still be competing as he looks to rattle off a third consecutive win since his knockout loss to American Ja'Rico O'Quinn in Arizona last December, having outpointed Mark Leach and stopped Brad Foster since then.
Welshman Edwards is undefeated at 16-0 after beating Thomas Patrick Ward in May and had been scheduled to take on Leon Woodstock in Sheffield in January.
Isaac Lowe vs Lee McGregor
A long-time friend and training partner of Fury’s, Lowe is a familiar fixture on his undercards after outpointing Hasibullah Ahmadi in Riyadh back in May.
‘The Westgate Warrior’ has been on the comeback trail since his pair of losses to Luis Alberto Lopez and Nick Ball and was originally supposed to meet former British, Commonwealth and European bantamweight champion McGregor a year ago, only for an injury to the Scot to force a postponement to a bout where the WBO European belt was set to be on the line.
McGregor has since beat Jorge Moya and Deiner Polo with early stoppages in Scotland. The vacant IBO super-bantamweight title is up for grabs here.
Daniel Lapin vs Dylan Colin
Usyk’s friend and stablemate Lapin returns after his emphatic first-round knockout of Portugal’s Octavio Pudivitr to retain his WBA Inter-Continental light-heavyweight belt in less than two minutes on the first Fury vs Usyk card.
This time he’s up against unbeaten Frenchman Colin, who is 14-0 and was last in action against Gaetan Ntambwe in Paris last December, earning a decision win on the Tony Yoka vs Ryad Merhy undercard at Roland Garros.
Andrii Novytskyi vs Edgar Ramirez
Another Ukrainian boxer on this weekend’s bill is ‘Rampage’ Novytskyi, the WBC International heavyweight champion whom you may remember from his stoppage of Juan Torres on the Anthony Joshua vs Francis Ngannou undercard back in February.
He’s won three more times since then, now coming up against 10-1-1 Mexican challenger Ramirez.
Mohammed Alakel vs Joshua Ocampo
Saturday night’s long undercard opens with Saudi boxer Alakel, who fights for only the second time as a professional after opening his career with a points win over Colombian Jesus Gonzalez on the first Beterbiev vs Bivol bill in October.
He will look to make it back-to-back wins over another South American opponent in ‘El Lobo’ Ocampo, an 8-33-5 journeyman who has not been victorious since 2022.
