Usyk vs Fury 2: Heavyweight rivals Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury refuse to back down in epic 11-minute staredown

The sheer intensity of Oleksandr Usyk’s rivalry with Tyson Fury was encapsulated in an epic staredown that closed out the final press conference ahead of Saturday’s world heavyweight championship rematch.

They locked eyes onto each other and neither would break away from the face off. The minutes ticked by in what felt like, probably, the longest boxing face off in recorded history.

It lasted for a mesmerising 11 minutes and 13 seconds.

Neither boxer wished to show a crack of weakness in their determination to win this weekend's clash and none of the people crowding around them on the press conference stage particularly wished to get in between the two best heavyweight fighting men on the planet.

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Fury, his eyes wide, sweat glistening on his brow under his hat, barked at Usyk as finally a cautious tide of bodies swept between them and began, inch by inch, second by second to bob the two men apart and then slowly away.

Morecambe's Fury has cut a menacing figure in the build-up to this fight, his chance to avenge the first defeat of his professional career.

Usyk beat him on a split decision in May to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the first of the four-belt era.

Though Usyk subsequently had to vacate the IBF championship, Saturday's Sky Sports Box Office rematch is a chance for Fury to win back three of the world titles, the WBC, WBO and WBA belts, which he has held at different times in his stellar career.

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But he also wants to settle a personal score. If he can overcome Usyk, there'll no professional opponent whom he hasn't beaten.

Fury has locked himself away in "beast mode" in training camp. He was just as fierce and uncharacteristically self-contained at the final press conference on Thursday.

He slowly leant to the microphone and spoke solemnly. He promised he'd put Usyk "in the hurt locker for sure".

"I'm going to dish out a whole lot of pain," Fury intoned. "I've got nothing to say apart from there's going to be a whole of pain and hurt in this fight.

"This time I'm serious… watch me go to work."

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Usyk, resplendent in a long jacket with twin golden cats stitched on the front, looked every inch the champion he is.

He has maintained an imperious composure throughout the build-up to this fight.

Usyk did not respond to Fury's threats. "We have just a performance, talk, cameras, lights, kind of a show," the Ukrainian said. "Everything's going to be taking place Saturday night on the 21st."

For his final message to Fury, Usyk calmly said: "Don't be afraid, I will not leave you alone. See you on Saturday."

Both though refused to back away from the staredown. Neither will back away in the fight.

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'The longest staredown I've ever seen!'

Mauricio Sulaiman, the president of the WBC, was the first to try to gingerly separate Usyk and Fury.

"It was the longest staredown I've ever seen," Sulaiman told Sky Sports.

"You never know when something can snap. So I thought that me getting in the middle and gently tell them it's time to go.

"They would not give an inch. They would not hear me, they would not look at me. They would not take their eyes away from each other. Very intense, very interesting.

"I've never seen something like that, they're ready and it's going to be unbelievable."

The psychological battle

David Allen is boxing Johnny Fisher on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk's rematch with Tyson Fury at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.

The Doncaster heavyweight has previously sparred both main-event fighters and, even though Usyk won the first fight, Allen is tipping Fury to win on Saturday.

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"I hope he wins anyway," Allen told Sky Sports. "They're very similar people. They've bossed it before you can get in there with them. I think Tyson's struggling with that, to be honest, because he's always had the upper hand mentally.

"It's weird because when you spar Tyson, Tyson turns up, music's on full blast… he dances round the ring. He's shouting and screaming and all the sparring partners, you're just sat there, you're in your box straight away.

"Fury for me is the best fighter I've ever been in the ring with. The size of him, the speed of him."

But he added: "Usyk, in sparring, he wasn't on Tyson's level, I didn't think.

"He's got his number up here I think."

Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury's huge heavyweight rematch will be live on Saturday December 21 on Sky Sports Box Office. Book Usyk v Fury 2 now!