The undercard for that Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk world heavyweight title unification battle has been confirmed – and it is a cracker.
Fury and Usyk will do battle on Saturday May 18 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (live on DAZN, TNT Sports and Sky Sports Box Office) – with the winner to become the division’s first undisputed king since Lennox Lewis way back in 1999.
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A match of this magnitude deserves an undercard to match, and fight fans are unlikely to be disappointed.
Kabayel vs Sanchez a cracker
A golden age for the heavyweight division gets another cracking match as two undefeated top-10 heavyweights Agit Kabayel and Frank Sanchez square off in a WBC Final Eliminator.
Both men are 24-0 after bolstering their perfect records with victories on that massive ‘Day of Reckoning’ card last December. German star Kabayel burst the bubble of massive Russian Arslanbek Makhmudov in impressive fashion, while Cuban slickster Sanchez stopped Junior Fa.
Elsewhere on the card, endefeated Australian Jai Opetaia, who triumphed against Ellis Zorro at the ‘Day of Reckoning’ in December, will take on three-time cruiserweight world champion Mairis Briedis for the IBF world championship and Ring Magazine belt in a rematch of their exhilarating July 2022 encounter when Opetaia claimed the belts by overcoming the celebrated Latvian fighter.
Itauma continues his development
Undefeated Welsh Olympian Joe Cordina will defend his IBF world super featherweight championship against IBO title holder, Northern Irishman Anthony Cacare, with the heavyweight theme being bolstered by the unbeaten German star Agit Kabayel going up against unbeaten Cuban Frank Sanchez as both return to Riyadh following their knockout victories on the ‘Day of Reckoning’ card in December in a WBC Final Eliminator.
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UK lightweight sensation Mark Chamberlain will also be heading back to The Kingdom after proving to be a major hit on his opening night in Riyadh. The big punching 25-year-old featured at ‘Knockout Chaos’ in March and will now face the dangerous Nigerian Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab. In another significant attraction, Sergey Kovalev – the former long-standing light heavyweight world champion – will go up against the undefeated Robin Sirwan Safar at cruiserweight.
Formidable young heavyweight star Moses Itauma, the World Amateur champion, who is tipped to become the future face of boxing’s marquee division, takes on Ilja Mezencev in his ninth fight in the professional ranks at the age of just 19. New Zealand Olympian David Nyika faces Michael Seitz at cruiserweight and English featherweight Isaac Lowe is matched with Hasibullah Ahmadi.
