A crescent moon shone down on the desert night of three press conferences. A sultry prelude to Saturday’s first fight to find a new undisputed world heavyweight champion for a quarter of a century.
This is the new world of big time boxing, a land of mystery where the world turns slowly.
Why have one undercard presser when you can have two and keep Tyson Fury and Olexsandr Usyk waiting to take the stage?
Politely. Full courtesies observed. Even listening to the usual western platitudes about training camps and wary predictions from me on the way up… or down.
Come on Tyson. Get in there.
Tyson Fury (left) and Oleksandr Usyk (right) showed respect for one another at their final press conference
Fury proudly showed off his WBC title but did not engage in a war of words with his rival
Usyk arrived in an all-white suit and looked as relaxed as ever ahead of the biggest fight of his life
As usual it was left to the Gypsy King to blow a stir through the stillness of the heat. Albeit more of a summer zephyr than a sandstorm.
Usyk had emerged in a squared white suit with black trim designed upon lines of reference to Ukraine custom and his comrades fighting on the front line against Russia.
Fury strode out in one of his jazzy suits, ripped off the jacket, punched the air to rouse English fans beginning to arrive in the Middle East.
That was the fun almost over. So wary were both the reigning champions of stirring the hot pot of Fury’s father John’s Monday head butting antics that they kept their words to a minimum.
No rabble rousing as Usyk said: ‘lets make history on Saturday night.’
Nor when Fury said: ‘I thank God for my victory to come. I thank my fans for coming all this way in hard times.
Fury would not face off with his opponent, but Usyk should not take that as a sign of weakness
‘And I thank Usyk for turning up. May God send us both home safely.’
Fury even declined the ritual face off. Not that Usyk should take that as a sign of weakness.
The culture is different here.
Respect is the new watch-word in heavyweight prizefighting vogue. What’s not to like in that. When the magnitude of this fight speaks volumes of itself.
