Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury press conference: Live news and updates as undisputed…

Tyson Fury has confirmed he will fight Oleksandr Usyk in a blockbuster undisputed fight to take place in Saudi Arabia on February 17.

In an expletives-laden press conference in London on Thursday afternoon, the Gypsy King vowed to ‘destroy’ his opponent, whom he repeatedly dismissed as a ‘little man’.

‘He’s a champion, I’m a champion, it’s going to be a fight for the ages,’ he said.

‘No,’ Usyk says simply. ‘For me, it’s a lot of speaking, like a talking head.

‘Blah blah blah blah blah.

‘The man behaves like that when he’s afraid, when he doesn’t feel comfort.’

Usyk says he was worried about Fury during Ngannou.

‘For me, it’s a big opportunity, undisputed. For my family, my country, my people, who defend my country.’

Usyk acknowledges Fury will be different than he was against Ngannou, implying he had a relaxed attitude.

‘Very relaxed!’ He jokes.

‘Even if he had a baseball bat in one hand, and a meat cleaver in the other, he wouldn’t really do anything to me,’ Fury illustrates vividly.

‘You say a million things, talk a lot of s***e, the best man will win.

‘If he beats me, I shake his hand. If I win, I hope he shakes my hand.’

Fury heads backstage for a quick interview.

‘It’s hard speaking to a foreigner, I’m on my own, and they’re conferring. It’s hard to know what to say,’ Fury notes.

‘Give him a little shove, he give me a shove.’

He mentions his fee – nearly £50million – ‘I’m thinking about super yachts, jumbo jets.’

He’s still extremely pleased about World’s Sexiest Athlete, before talking about Stallone.

‘It’s unbelievable. You know it’s go-time when you’ve got Rocky here.’

Handshakes all round as they pose for a group photo.

Usyk wasn’t going to give Fury an inch there. There’s a lot of needle in this, and I’m sure things will only bubble up more and more ahead of February.

He pops up for the face off, as the Rocky music plays over the sound system.

Immediately, Fury and Usyk are forehead-to-forehead, and they’ve been torn apart after there’s movement between the two.

‘I’m going to knock you out,’ Fury screams, ‘P**** with an earring, like a little girl!’

Usyk’s team chant his name over and over again.

But Krassyuk weighs in, adding: ‘Tyson, the problem is, is that it’s not February 17, and until then, it’s not happening.’

But Warren the peacemaker reassures that ‘this fight is on.’

‘I think he got hit in the body, good body shot, and he didn’t want to get up for five minutes,’ Fury taunts.

Usyk ripostes: ‘I absolutely don’t care about what Tyson thinks about that.’

A clash of English and Ukrainian in increasingly loud tones fills the air as Fury accuses his promoters of making accuses. Usyk claps him off.

‘I’m here all night,’ Fury winks.

‘There’s plenty of ways that I can skin this particular cat,’ Fury claims. ‘On February 17, all the talking’s out of the window.

‘There’s nothing more to be said. He thinks he’s going to win, maybe, I know I’m going to win.’

… and that’s why Usyk will fall to a very particular big man in Fury, rather than his former opponents.

Uysk contemplates his response before leaning forward and saying: ‘Maybe (Tyson’s proclamations are) true’, enigmatically.

‘The first time I made the face-off with Tyson after Chisora, he was very motivated, with high spirits.

‘But last time (after Ngannou) he was exhausted.’

Fury reigns himself in for the inevitable thank-yous to Saudi and Alalshikh, before continuing.

‘He’s a champion, I’m a champion, it’s going to be a fight for the ages.

‘We’ve been chosen and I believe we’re both destined to be here.

‘I’m destined to become the undisputed champion, and more than that, cement my legacy.

On Usyk, he says: ‘He’s a good boxer, slick. But I’ve seen people like him before, and when they fight the big man, they lose.’

Krassyuk is on translating duty, as Usyk tells a story – David and Goliath. Heard of it?

‘When the Lord gives me Tyson in my hands, I will make my job.’

‘Impossible, the Lord would never deliver me to you,’ Fury snaps. He makes a jibe about Usyk’s earring again.

‘Nothing is impossible for the Lord.’ Usyk finishes.

‘Enough?’ Usyk asks innocently. Fury’s stormed out the gates, because ‘he’s come here to fight’.

‘Yes I’m a little man,’ Usyk says to Fury’s taunts, before Fury makes an about-turn on his early judgement and responds: ‘You’re actually average height for a heavyweight.

The closest thing we might get to a compliment today.

A big speech from Krassyuk thanking Usyk for the honour of making him his promotion.

‘Ladies and gentleman, I ask you for a round of applause for this humble and so powerful man’.

On Fury, he thanks him for his ‘courage’ for accepting the fight with the ‘future undisputed champion’.

Tyson snaps back: ‘I already relieved one Ukrainian of all the belts, and now I’m going to take them all back, even the ones I gave him!’

He lets fly a swing of nicknames, from ‘rabbit’ to ‘sausage’.

‘You’re a cissy with an earring in!’ Fury says, raising his voice.

‘I’ll speak in the ring.’ Usyk says coolly.

‘Look at yesterday. It was a gamechanger. This is a double gamechanger. As a promoter I’ve been banging my head against the wall

‘But now we have the creme de la creme. The heavyweight division. These two undefeated heavyweight fighters.

‘I know who I believe’s the best. If (the other side) want to have a little wager with me, (I’m confident).’

Fury butts in here to put brother Tommy in his place: ‘I’ve got bragging rights in the family, Tommy, you ugly boy, 13th (place).

‘Sexiest sportsman alive, never say never.

‘If you’re fat and you’re bald, you’re probably gonna get laid.’

First, Warren thanks the Saudi organisers adding: ‘the whole world of boxing has been waiting for many, many years, and they now have this fight.

‘For the first time this century, we will have an undisputed heavyweight champion.’

The Ukrainian is looking sharp in a black suit, and a black shirt, and as he reaches his seat, he tries to hype the crowd up to the faint sounds of Eminem. They respond in kind, with light clapping.

Next up, Fury, who glides onto the stage in one of his trademark chintz-y suits, patterned with a thousand little belts.

No John Fury this time, so things may be a tad more subdued than that final press conference in Riyadh.

‘I haven’t gone to a gala dinner at 10pm on the night before a fight before!

‘The experience was different, because you are indoors a lot. My team paid attention to the weather and the heat, but when we got there, it was moving from an air-conditioned building to an air-conditioned car.

‘By Wednesday I said, “I need to be outside, I need more fresh air.”

‘It worked a bit backwards to how I thought it might.

Don’t go anywhere – after a bit of a delay, we’ll be underway in central London in a few minutes.

Spencer Fearon is next on the mic for Top Rank, and he’s extolling the virtues of co-host Wardley, who featured on the under-card of ‘Battle of the Baddest’.

‘Bro, you are a natural athlete. and you can hear by his diction, he’s an educated person. and he throws thoughtful punches,’ the promoter says.

‘For a big man, you’ve got hands on you.’

Wardley accepts the compliments humbly.

Asked about Fury-Usyk, he praises Alalshikh for ‘knowing boxing.

‘Props on another level. Also it’s giving eyeballs to Saudi Arabia, which I think is good.

‘When you go there, it dismisses the stereotype.’

No rest for the promoter, who’s back with a mic in his hand after featuring at Wembley last night.

‘People don’t understand. He won on his rematch last August, so it’s less than a year/18 months the fight goes on, and had Tyson been able to fight on 23rd, it’d been unified. The quickest a unification fight has ever happened.

‘Tyson fought Klitschko, he’s fought Wilder, he’s fought everyone.

Warren blames the delay on money, rather than intention, but ‘under the patronship of His Excellency (Turki Alalshikh), (everything has come to fruition)’.

‘Tyson Fury is making this happen,’ his promoter adds.

Acknowleding that both the fighters have an extensive ‘box of tricks’, Wardley assess how Fury and Usyk might start against one another in February.

‘They’re not going to want to rush in, they’re going to want to have a look.

‘Both of their last performances left some question marks, they’re going to wait and see – what Fury, what Usyk is in front of me?’

A sneak-peek as we edge closer to the fighters’ arrival.

Fabio Wardley is back on the mic ahead of tonight’s press conference, and sheds some light on the duo and their potential comments tonight.

‘They’re both very much characters in the own right and they’ve both got a bit to say about the other ones.

‘This time around, there’s been a bit more comments back and fourth, and they’ve both got a few holes to pick at each other (given their recent fights).’

Both Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are in the building, ready to speak to the press.

It should be a spicy one, if yesterday’s affair was anything to go by.

The event dubbed ‘Ring of Fire’, will take place on the new date in February 2024.

Oleksandr Usyk‘s promoter Alex Krassyuk has hit out at Tyson Fury after their undisputed world heavyweight title fight was delayed.

Usyk and Fury had agreed terms to fight on December 23 in Riyadh, with the Gypsy King claiming he would sue the Ukrainian if their bout was held up further.

Make sure to make Mail Sport’s weekly podcast The Hook your No 1 source for all the latest news on the biggest fights and exclusive interviews with boxing’s luminaries.

You can listen to this week’s episode by clicking HERE.

Deontay Wilder has accused Anthony Joshua of turning down a $50million (£40m) offer to fight him.

Former heavyweight champion Wilder is due to fight on the same December 23 card in Saudi Arabia as Joshua but not against one another as had been hoped. Briton Joshua will fight Otto Wallin and Wilder will take on Joseph Parker.

Asked by Mail Sport why he is not fighting Joshua next, Wilder said: ‘He asked for $50million (£40m) and we provided that for him and he did not take it.

Tyson Fury has insisted his fight against Francis Ngannou was a success despite many slamming the Gypsy King’s supposed underwhelming performance.

Ngannou’s fight with Fury has been the talk of the boxing world after the former MMA star took the Gypsy King all the way in Riyadh at the end of last month.

It was the first time Ngannou had stepped into the boxing ring yet he showed no signs of being a novice, before Fury was handed a split decision win by 94-95, 95-94, 96-93.

Francis Ngannou has been ranked in the top ten of the WBC’s heavyweight rankings after just his first fight in professional boxing.

The Cameroonian put in an incredible performance to shock Tyson Fury in their ‘Battle of the Baddest’ clash in Saudi Arabia last month – knocking the WBC champion to the canvas in the third round – but ultimately lost on a split decision.

However, many punters and boxing experts believe he did enough to beat the Gypsy King across the 10 round contest and the Cameroonian still emerged with massive credit after his surprising performance on his first foray into the sport.

Tyson Fury dubbed Oleksandr Usyk an ‘ugly little sausage man’ as he hurled insults at his Ukrainian opponent ahead of their press conference confirming their long-awaited clash.

The Gypsy King was due to tussle with Uysk on December 23 after nearly a year’s worth of negotiations between the two camps.

But plans were hurriedly rescheduled after Fury was put to the test against Francis Ngannou in October’s ‘Battle of the Baddest’ in Riyadh.

In lieu of Fury and Usyk’s clash, Saudi has pulled out the stops to plug a gap in their calendar on December 23. Last night saw the launch of the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card, a line-up overflowing with superstars… but those hopeful for a meeting between Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua will have to wait a little longer.

Hello and welcome to Mail Sport’s live coverage of a press conference that feels like year’s in the making – and will see Tyson Fury finally take to the stage with Oleksandr Usyk.

Kick-off is 6pm in London, but stick with us as we provide all the details and build-up ahead of time.