Fury vs Usyk Undercard: #1 Cruiserweight Jai Opetaia Among Fighters To Feature On Mega Saudi Show
- Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk Clash Saturday, May 18 In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- #1 Cruiserweight, Australia’s Jai Opetaia Returns On Fury vs Usyk Undercard
- READ: Taylor vs Catterall 2 Undercard, UK Time, TV Channel, Ring Walks
Britain’s Tyson Fury and Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk will clash in a #1 vs #2 Heavyweight collision for all four belts on Saturday, May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The broadcaster for this event will be DAZN PPV worldwide. Sky Sports and TNT Sports will also show the PPV in the UK alongside ESPN + PPV in the USA. Queensberry Promotions, Matchroom Boxing, Top Rank, Alex Krassyuk’s K2 Promotions, Tasman Fighters and others will be involved.
Fury (34-0-1, 24 KOs) scored a split-decision win over Francis Ngannou in October whilst Usyk (21-0, 14 KOs) stopped mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois in nine rounds last August in Poland.
Fury vs Usyk Undercard
#1 Cruiserweight, Australia’s Jai Opetaia (24-0, 19 KOs) will face the former three-time cruiserweight world champion, Latvia’s Mairis Briedis (28-2, 20 KOs) in the co-feature.
The pair met in a fight of the year contender in 2022 where Opetaia announced himself to the world with a minor upset over Briedis to win the IBF and Ring Magazine world titles.
Briedis hasn’t fought since whilst Opetaia stopped two Brits in 2023, Jordan Thompson in September in his UK debut and a highlight-reel opening-round knockout of Ellis Zorro in December.
Wales’ Joe Cordina (17-0, 9 KOs) is expected to defend his IBF super featherweight championship against Beflast’s Anthony Cacace (21-1, 7 KOs).
Cordina won the 2022 knockout of the year with a stunning second-round finish of Japan’s Kenichi Ogawa and regained the belt in a fight-of-the-year contender with Shavkat Rakhimov last April in Cardiff.
In a WBC Final Eliminator, Germany’s Agit Kabayel goes up against fellow undefeated fighter, Cubas’ Frank Sanchez as both return to Riyadh following their knockout victories on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in December.
Kabayel (24-0, 16 KOs) pulled off a big upset stopping Arslanbek Makhmudov in just four rounds whilst Sanchez (24-0, 17 KOs) took out Junior Fa in the seventh.
Former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev (35-4-1, 29 KOs) will meet undefeated Swede Robin Safar (16-1, 12 KOs) in a cruiserweight bout.
In their Las Vegas bout, Kovalev was knocked out by P4P star Canelo Alvarez more than four years ago and has only had one fight since, a ten-round decision win over Bulgaria’s Tervel Pulev.
Lightweight Mark Chamberlain (15-0, 11 KOs) faces Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab (23-1, 16 KOs) over twelve rounds for the WBC silver title in a battle of heavy-handed men.
Isaac Lowe (24-2-3, 8 KOs) and Afghanistan’s Hasibullah Ahmadi (16-1 5 KOs) clash in a Featherweight fight.
Heavyweight prospect Moses Itauma (7-0, 5 KOs), Cruiserweight David Nyika (8-0, 7 KOs), and Light Heavyweight Daniel Lapin (9-0, 3 KOs) will all feature on the card.
Itauma fights for his first title against Ilja Mezencev (25-3, 21 KOs), Lapin looks to win a second belt meeting Octavio Pudivitr (9-1, 4 KOs), and Nyika will have Michael Seitz (12-0, 10 KOs) in front of him in a battle of unbeatens.
Image: Queensberry