In each fight Usyk has had at heavyweight, he used his superior footwork and box-craft to frustrate and bamboozle his opponent. Unified champion Serrano is in possession of the WBC, WBO and IBO featherweight titles, while Mahfoud holds the IBF version at 126lbs. Tim Tszyu is out for revenge as he attempts to regain the super-welterweight world title from American Sebastian Fundora in Las Vegas. Oleksandr Usyk has been ordered by the WBO to face New Zealander Joseph Parker in a mandatory heavyweight title defence.
New Zealand UFC star Carlos Ulberg plans to put on a show in Perth, believing a win over American Dominick Reyes will open up a title shot. A bizarre build-up to Andrew Moloney’s world title eliminator in central Mexico has “pissed off” the Australian’s mum and played into the underdog’s hands. “Joshua is a very talented fighter. Combinations are beautiful. Great jab, great right hand. We need to try and do it more often. Joshua has come to this fight with a new trainer in Robert Garcia, perhaps portents of a new outlook to how he’ll approach this contest. “This fight is very important. The people of Ukraine need to feel the pride. To become happy.”
It’s unlikely to go the distance, so Zhang by knockout is our top boxing pick. All up, Usyk has a professional record of 21-0 with 14KOs, only one of which has come in a heavyweight contest. Usyk won unanimous decisions in both fights but only by, at most, a handful of rounds.
Joyce vs Parker date, start time, venue and ring walks
Punters get $2.45 for Ball, and that’s the best value on the Wilder vs Zhang undercard. Zhang is as tough as they come, but he doesn’t have the explosiveness of Wilder, or at least what Wilder used to have. Wilder used to be one of the best one-punch fighters in the world, but he wasn’t able to land a punch on Parker, which isn’t a good form guide.
- On the undercard in Jeddah, unbeaten Croatian fighter Filip Hrgović (14-0, 12KOs) meets China’s Zhilei Zhang (24-0-1, 19KOs) in an elimination bout for a shot at the IBF belt.
- West Australian Steve Erceg has defeated Jamaican Ode Osbourne by unanimous decision in their three-round bantamweight bout, but it didn’t come easily.
- Undefeated superstar Nikita Tszyu is looking for his 10th straight win against Koen Mazoudier who is coming off a strong win in March.
Fury vs Ngannou
What’s the biggest fight ever?
The most-watched boxing match was the 2015 bout between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao which drew 4.6 million PPV buys. “The Fight of the Century” had been brewing for years, but was delayed several times due to breakdowns in contract negotiations.
Thankfully, we haven’t had to wait too long to see two of the most incredible light heavyweights of this generation reignite their rivalry. Beterbiev vs Bivol 2 takes place on Saturday, February 22, at the same venue as the first encounter – the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. All four major light heavyweight world title belts are back on the line, and we are salivating at the prospect already. Fury has had three wins since the last of their fights, but those came against a brow-beaten Chisora, an outclassed Dilion Whyte and via a questionable split decision victory over novice MMA star, Francis Ngannou. The now 37-year-old now holds the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and The Ring heavyweight titles — Usyk is only the third man to win cruiserweight and heavyweight world titles after Evander Holyfield and David Haye. Sitting ringside at Usyk’s thriller bout against Tyson Fury, Dubois wasted no time finding his way into the centre to pose a new challenge to the reigning heavyweight champion.
Inoue vs Cardenas
The markets suggest a Joshua knockout ($1.54) or, perhaps more likely, to have the fight stopped with Ngannou on https://usyk-vs-parker.com/ his feet. Joshua is a power puncher and will provide a stern test, but don’t be surprised to see Ngannou’s corner make the decision for him should it get to that point. Where he always had a puncher’s chance against Fury, those chances might be more limited against Joshua. There is only one way for Ngannou to cause consistent trouble, and that’s in close. Ngannou himself conceded that he is the reason for the fight being limited to ten rounds instead of 12. Although, he’s aware of how a longer fight might limit his ability to end it.