At a pre-fight press conference, Oleksandr Usyk opened a briefcase, removed two photographs and walked over to Tyson Fury to get his heavyweight rival to sign them. One picture was of Fury receiving, as he put it, ‘a big left hand to the jaw’ from Usyk during their May fight in Saudi Arabia. Fury also joked that he ‘looked like Shrek’ in one of the images.
The Ukrainian, dressed in a suit and black gloves possibly inspired by the ‘Hitman’ video game franchise, won that bout by split decision to become the world’s first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in 24 years. When asked if he had a message for Usyk, Fury said ‘no’, an answer the reigning champion mocked by replying ‘yes’ to the same question. The two fighters were meeting before their rematch in Riyadh on 21 December.