Fans have slammed the pre-fight press conference between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk ahead of their undisputed heavyweight clash on Saudi Arabia in Saudi night.
The pair will finally face each other in the ring in Riyadh, three months after their original fight was postponed following a cut suffered by Fury in sparring.
Anticipation for the fight has been growing throughout the week, and many were hoping that a war of words could erupt just 48 hours before they square off, but the press conference proved to be a timid affair.
Fury vowed to keep things ‘short and sweet’ as he took the microphone, simply insisting that he was ‘ready to put on a show’, while Usyk claimed that he and Fury would ‘make history’ this weekend in the first undisputed heavyweight clash fight for 25 years.
But that did little to whet the appetite of fans who were critical of how the press conference played out.
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Tyson Fury hardly spoke at his final press conference before his fight with Oleksandr Usyk
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Usyk also did not engage in a war of words, leading to criticism from fans
‘What a s*** press conference. Both fighters refusing to speak for more than 10 seconds,’ one fan posted on X.
Another X user agreed, adding: ‘Fury Usyk presser is a bore-fest’, while one fan wrote: This press conference so far has been lackluster as f***.’
The press conference – which was staged in three parts – got off to a farcical start when promoter Frank Warren’s microphone wasn’t working properly, leading to Fury encouraging him to use his instead.
But the sound quality proved an issue for the rest of the event, causing further irritation for fans watching on.
‘All the Saudi money and they can’t even get the sound engineering right for the press conference,’ a fan claimed.
‘Absolutely impossible to hear anything without a constant bleep….’
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Fury refused to face Usyk at the end of their timid final press conference
Having hardly got the juices flowing with their words, Fury and Usyk then stepped to the front on the stage for their obligatory face-off, but the Gypsy King refused to look at his opponent.
Instead, he opted to cross his arms and look into the crowd, before flexing his muscles, all while not catching the eye of Usyk.
Usyk, dressed in an all-white suit, appeared unflustered by Fury’s unusual behaviour, and did not take his eyes off his rival.
Fans will hope for better at Friday’s weigh-in, before the two heavyweights settle their differences in the ring on Saturday evening.
