The road to Oleksandr Usyk vs. Tyson Fury 2 is officially underway.
Usyk and Fury faced off back in May for the undisputed heavyweight title—the first time that’s happened since 2000—which Usyk won via split decision. The two are set to rematch this December and on Wednesday, the road to their heavyweight rematch kicked off with the Usyk vs. Fury 2 Launch Press Conference taking place in London.
And it was certainly interesting.
Usyk came out to the event dressed as Agent 47 from the Hitman franchise, and after being asked what was in the briefcase he carried with him, the champ took out a photo of him punching Fury during their first bout and asked Fury to sign it. Fury obliged and Usyk later revealed the photo will be put up for auction with the proceeds going to help Ukrainian soldiers in the ongoing war with Russia.
Meanwhile, Fury didn’t have any preplanned gimmicks and instead relied on his gift of gab to promote the fight.
“I have to be a little bit more focused and a little bit more smart to get the victory,” Fury said. “As it would seem, my rematch with people always ends up one way: I always end up knocking them out in the rematch. Whoever I face more than once has always been knocked out in the rematch. So I’m envisioning something similar in the second fight with Usyk.”
Ultimately, the press conference ended like always, with Usyk and Fury sharing their first faceoff for the fight. As one final wrinkle, Fury took the opportunity to try and tickle the heavyweight champion, which drew laughs from those in attendance but didn’t phase Usyk.
Usyk and Fury face off on Dec. 21 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
