Sunday, February 16, 2025

Usyk v Joshua II – Preview, UK fight time, undercard, odds.

Anthony Joshua looks to regain the heavyweight world titles he lost to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in September of last year.

However, this time around he will not have a UK home advantage as the rematch will take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in a promotion dubbed ‘Rage on the Red Sea’ this Saturday night, August 20th.

While this will be the first time Usyk has fought in Saudi Arabia, it’s not a first for Joshua who regained the titles he lost to Andy Ruiz Jr with a unanimous decision victory at the Diriyah Arena, Saudi Arabia in December 2019. Joshua will be hoping the same pattern repeats this time around.

UK main event ring walk times/TV networks

Saudi Arabia is two hours ahead of the UK’s British standard time and ring walks for the main event are being slated for around 00.30 in Saudi Arabia, therefore all being well the ring walks should begin around 10.30 pm UK time

In the UK Sky Sports won the TV rights for the fight and is televising it as a pay-per-view event that can be purchased for £26.95 (31.95 euros for the Republic of Ireland customers) via viewers’ Sky remotes or by calling to order the fight. The event will begin at 6 pm.

An agreement was reached that allows Ukraine viewers to watch the fight for free after the Saudi organizers gifted Usyk the TV rights for Ukraine for free.

DAZN will be televising the fight as part of their subscription service to international customers (excluding the UK, Ireland, MENA, and Ukraine)

Undercard

Callum Smith v Mathieu Bauderlique – 12 rounds – Light Heavyweight

Filip Hrgovic v Zhilei Zhang – 12 rounds – Heavyweight

Badou Jack v Richard Rivera – 10 rounds – Cruiserweight

Andrew Tabiti v James Wilson – 8 rounds – Heavyweight

Ramla Ali v Crystal Garcia Nova – 8 rounds – Super Bantamweight

Daniel Lapin v Jozef Jurko – 8 rounds – Light heavyweight

Ben Whittaker v Petar Nosic – 6 rounds – Light heavyweight

Bader Samreen v Fuad Tarverdi – 6 rounds – Lightweight

Ziyad Almaayouf v Jose Alatorre – 4 rounds – Super lightweight

Rasheed Belhasa v Traycho Georgiev – 4 rounds – Welterweight

Odds

(Odds correct at time of writing but subject to movement)

Outright

Usyk is favourite to retain his belts at 8/15 while Joshua can be had as the slight underdog at 13/8, this could however change come fight night as more liquidity moves into the market.

To win by KO/TKO/DSQ:

Joshua 11/4

Usyk 2/1

To win by decision or technical decision:

Joshua 8/1

Usyk 21/10

Draw: 20/1

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