Reignited – Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk II undercard features five fantastic fights
His Excellency Turki Alalshikh revealed the full undercard for December 21 when heavyweight giants Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk lock horns for a second time in Saudi Arabia.
Their first fight in May was such a close affair that fight fans are already feeling the excitement for the festive rematch taking place just days before Christmas.
And now the Fury-Usyk 2 undercard has been announced with two months left to go, featuring two more tantalising heavyweight tussles, plus a brace of brilliant all-British battles.
His Excellency tweeted: “Before the two giants collide in Fury vs Usyk Reignited, the undercard is set to light up the ring.
“With some of the biggest names in boxing stepping into the ring, these matchups will set the stage for an unforgettable night.
”Mark your calendars—December 21 is a night you won’t want to miss.”
Five of the Best
Serhii Bohachuk vs Israel Madrimov
12×3 Super-welterweight
Moses Itauma vs Demsey McKean
10×3 Heavyweight
Johnny Fisher vs Dave Allen
10×3 Heavyweight
Dennis McCann vs Peter McGrail
12×3 British & European super-bantamweight titles
Isaac Lowe vs Lee McGregor
10×3 Featherweight
Serhii Bohachuk vs Israel Madrimov
Heavy-handed Ukrainian Serhii ‘El Falco’ Bohachuk (24-2, 23KO) heads back to the ring just four months on from his narrow mixed decision defeat to unbeaten prodigy Vergil Ortiz Jr in August.
The 29-year-old with a 95.83% KO ratio conceded his WBC Interim super-welterweight title and now aims to get back to winning ways against Uzbekistan’s Israel Madrimov (10-1-1, 7KO), also 29.
‘The Dream’ also comes into the fight from a loss, putting up a valiant effort against two-weight undisputed great Terence Crawford in August. Madrimov lost his WBA belt to ‘Bud’ with close scores of 113-115 twice and 112-116.
Closely matched, both in their prime, Bohachuk vs Madrimov is guaranteed to be a fun fight.
Moses Itauma vs Demsey McKean
The UK’s top prospect Moses Itauma (10-0, 8KO) gets another acid test when he clashes with Demsey McKean (22-1, 14KO) in the Kingdom.
Chatham’s Itauma has only completed 22 rounds from a scheduled 66 so far, scoring six-first round stoppages, and his last two step-up fights only went as far as two rounds.
The 19-year-old prodigy stopped German champion Ilja Mezencev 50-seconds into the second on the Fury-Usyk undercard in May; then the Slovakian-born Kent puncher did the same to the experienced ‘Viking’, world title contender Mariusz Wach on the Joyce-Chisora undercard.
Aussie ‘Tower’ Demsey McKean will be another strong test for Moses, whose only loss came in his last fight with Filip Hrgovic, back in August 2023.
The Queensland southpaw has won Australian, African, Asian Pacific titles as well as the IBF International heavyweight title.
Johnny Fisher vs Dave Allen
Two of the most popular heavyweights in British boxing will collide in what should not only be a fun fight, but an enjoyable build-up between very likeable characters.
Johnny ‘The Romford Bull’ Fisher (12-0, 11KO) was the Boxing Writers’ Club Best Young Boxer of the Year 2023.
The 25-year-old has a huge following due to his personality, but mostly because of his exciting style he brings, which was on full display when he destroyed KO artist Alen Babic in 36-seconds in July.
The heavyweight known for his ‘Bosh’ catchphrase, has been calling for a showdown with Dave ‘White Rhino’ Allen (23-6-2, 18KO) for some time, who is now 32.
Allen built up a big following despite having a patchy record, but his persona won over the fans and landed him lucrative fights with Matchroom, even headlining the O2 against Lucas Browne, who he KO’s in three.
Although he has disappeared from the limelight a lot, he has kept active with two fights this year and last year.
Fisher will be the overwhelming favourite, as Allen has been stopped four times before, but no one has been able to knock him out early, taking six rounds or more to get to him.
But fight fans have another two months to wait to find out what happens when a ‘Bull’ collides with a ‘Rhino’?
Dennis McCann vs Peter McGrail
Ordered by the BBBofC and the EBU, two of the top super-bantamweights in the country will clash in what could be the the most skilful fight of the year.
Peter McGrail (10-1, 6KO) is fresh from his second-round stoppage win over Brad Foster in September, halting the former British and Commonwealth champ with a perfectly time left hook to the body.
23-year-old southpaw Dennis McCann (16-0-1, 8KO) righted the wrong in his career against Iount Baluta in July by beating the Romanian widely on points to pick up the vacant European title. Their fight 11 months prior ended in a technical draw after Maidstone’s McCann suffered from an horrendous cut caused by a head clash.
Sandwiched inbetween those bouts he decisioned McGrail’s Everton Red Triangle teammate Brad Strand for the vacant British title in March this year.
So McGrail, 28 from Liverpool, will want revenge for his colleague, who will also be on hand to provide him with the blueprints to ‘The Menace’.
These two stylish southpaws are guaranteed to excite on the night.
Isaac Lowe vs Lee McGregor
Tyson Fury’s best mate Isaac Lowe (25-2-3, 8KO) has been able to bounce back from back-to-back defeats to Luis Alberto Lopez and Nick Ball with four straight wins within 18 months.
‘Lightning’ Lee McGregor (14-1-1, 11KO), 27 from Scotland, has also been on a comeback course after a narrow points defeat in July 2023 against Erik Robles for the IBO World super-bantamweight title.
The Scot stopped his last two foes after moving up in weight and now meets ‘The Westgate Warrior’ at featherweight in a 50-50 fight.