Yahoo Sport 
Fight of the century is upon us as history beckons for Tyson Fury or Oleksandr Usyk
Promoters, punters and pugilists have played their part in ramping up the hype for a fight that, in truth, never needed a leg-up.
The crux of tomorrow’s showdown in Riyadh is simple: barring an unlikely draw, come the end of the night there will be an undisputed heavyweight champion for the first time since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999.
In an era of the sport where Love Island contestants take on YouTubers, and Mike Tyson is getting ready to fight again at the age of 57, it is refreshing to have a clash that pits the division’s finest fighters against each other.
Oleksandr Usyk is coming in with the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts, while Tyson Fury will enter the ring with the WBC title he first won back in 2020.
The truth is it’s exciting to me and attractive because of the amount of money I’m getting paid, not because of the belts that are on the line
Tyson Fury
Before arriving in Riyadh, Fury had said: “There are so many belts on the line and nothing competes with that. This is the fight of the ages, nothing can compare with this, not a show fight, not a crossover fight, not YouTube boxing.
“This is two undefeated heavyweight champions colliding for all the belts and it hasn’t been done since whenever.”
As is so often the case, in Saudi Arabia Fury has performed a complete U-turn on that outlook, arguing that it is not the belts that drive him but the multi-millions set to make their way into his bank account at the end of it all.
One suspects, that if he wins, Fury will flip again and declare the unification of the belts the be-all and end-all. The reality is he is simply trying to dampen down the hype to perhaps ease the burden of being the pre-fight favourite. “The truth is it’s exciting to me and attractive because of the amount of money I’m getting paid,” he said of a sum thought to be in the region of £100million set to line his pockets after the fight, “not because of the belts that are on the line.”
Unlike some heavyweight encounters, this has come at a time when both fighters are at their peak, unless Fury’s lacklustre performance against MMA fighter Francis Ngannou was more than just a failure to take it seriously enough in the lead-up.
But it has been a painful process to get it on in the first place — such is the way with heavyweight boxing these days with so many competing commercial interests and so many belts up for grabs. Saudi’s billions have helped to bring everyone in line, rival promoters Frank Warren and Eddie Hearn even supposedly friends now amid it all.
Fury finally looks in the sort of shape perhaps he always should be, no longer with the belly to pat in mock celebration afterwards
Fury and Usyk were first set to meet last year before that failed to materialise and then the February fight got called off when Fury was struck by an elbow in sparring and suffered a nasty gash above his eye.
Amid all the nonsense talk by Fury of Usyk, as a former cruiserweight, being found out for being too small at heavyweight, or of Fury being able to beat him after a night on the beers, Fury is well enough versed in the annals of boxing to know the calibre of his Ukrainian opponent. This week, he called him the best boxer he has ever faced and Usyk is exactly that, technically gifted, unorthodox at times, an Olympic champion and a two-weight world champion.
Usyk, though, gives away half a foot in height as well as seven inches in reach, and will need to control the fight exactly the way he wishes and stay clear of Fury’s long limbs in order to pull off another seismic win to match his dethroning of Anthony Joshua.
Fury has a better boxing brain than Joshua, versed in the art form so young by his father, John, and looks in excellent shape, despite the nonsense being levelled at him for being too skinny. Finally, he looks in the sort of shape perhaps he always should be, no longer with the belly to pat in mock celebration afterwards.
It promises to be a peak time for heavyweight boxing over the next year. There is a lucrative rematch after this weekend, the theory being Fury then faces Joshua in London some time next year if he can twice find his way past Usyk.
Warren told me this week that he saw likenesses between Fury and Muhammad Ali, which is a stretch. A thrilling victory tonight would nudge Fury a little bit closer to Ali in the boxing annals.
