Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2: Best value prop bets ahead of heavyweight title rematch

By Simon Head

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2: full fight card

• Oleksandr Usyk (c) vs Tyson Fury 2 – for WBA, WBC, WBO heavyweight titles
• Serhii Bohachuk vs Israil Madrimov – light middleweight
• Moses Itauma vs Demsey McKean – heavyweight
• Johnny Fisher vs Dave Allen – heavyweight
• Dennis McCann (c) vs Peter McGrail – European super bantamweight title
• Isaac Lowe vs Lee McGregor – featherweight

Two generational heavyweight greats will go head to head in a unified championship rematch as Oleksandr Usyk takes on Tyson Fury for the WBA, WBC and WBO world titles in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on December 21.

We’ll bring our FIRST fight night tips a little closer to the event but, to get the ball rolling, let’s look at the best value prop bet opportunities already available on the big fight.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2: Could a mid-late rounds stoppage be on the cards?

The first meeting between the pair ended in a split decision but whenever two elite heavyweights face off, there’s always the potential for a knockout finish.

Usyk almost dropped Fury in the first fight, with only the ropes preventing ‘The Gypsy King’ from ending up on the canvas in the ninth round as he was issued a standing eight count. The Englishman was on decidedly unsteady legs as the action continued but Fury’s famed powers of recovery ensured that he took the bout to the scorecards.

That ninth-round moment proved to be decisive in Usyk’s victory and showed that he has the power to hurt and potentially finish Fury.

But we’ve also seen that Usyk can be hurt, too. In the fifth round of the bout between Usyk and Daniel Dubois in Wroclaw, Poland back in 2023, Dubois dug a powerful body shot into Usyk’s beltline that put the Ukrainian on the canvas in some distress. The shot was adjudged to have been a low blow but replays showed that the shot was right on the borderline of what’s judged legal or low but certainly wasn’t low enough to be a groin shot.

Usyk was permitted time to recover and he went on to stop Dubois in the ninth round.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 knockout betting: Finding the sweet spot

Both men have demonstrated enough ability and enough vulnerability, to suggest that a stoppage could be feasible in the rematch and a look at the fighters’ form suggests that the sweet spot for a potential KO or TKO finish lies between Rounds 6 and 10. We’ve highlighted that sweet spot in the odds table below.

bet365 already have a host of prop markets available for the fight. The odds suggest that Usyk has the better chance of getting the job done inside the distance, with his odds noticeably shorter throughout 11 of the 12 rounds.

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 round betting: Bet365 odds

Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2 knockdown betting: Getting off the canvas to win

Another fun market offered by bet365 for this fight is ‘to be knocked down and win’ where you can bet on a fighter being dropped but going on to win the fight.

The odds have either fighter scoring a knockdown as a 4/7 shot, with Usyk 6/5 to get a knockdown and Fury a 7/4 shot. But if you bet on a fighter getting knocked down and then winning, those odds increase significantly. Usyk is 9/1 to be dropped and then win, while Fury is a 10/1 shot.

Fury has demonstrated his slight vulnerability to being stunned in fights and was briefly in trouble against Usyk in their first encounter. And, as he famously proved against Deontay Wilder, he’s also shown his ability to get up off the canvas after a huge knockdown and still come back to win.

With that knowledge in mind, a small punt on Fury to get knocked down and win might be a fun little side bet to make things more interesting on fight night.

FIRST’s best value prop bets for Oleksandr Usyk vs Tyson Fury 2

Having identified the sweet spot between Rounds 6 and 10, we can see that for Rounds 6, 7, 9 and 10, you can back a Usyk KO victory at 25/1 or a Fury knockout win at 33/1. But if we’re looking for value, while keeping our options open, backing the fight to be won by either man may offer a little more value.

Even though the odds for the individual fighters to get the win in those rounds are consistent, there are some variations in the equivalent rounds in the ‘either’ market.

Looking at the odds for those four rounds, the odds on either man to win in Round 6 and Round 10 are both 16/1, compared to 14/1 for Rounds 7 and 9 (highlighted in the table above). That added value on those rounds, which sit in our sweet spot for a potential finish, making those two rounds our prop picks for the fight.

PICKS: 

• EITHER FIGHTER TO WIN IN ROUND 6 @ 16/1
• EITHER FIGHTER TO WIN IN ROUND 10 @ 16/1
• TYSON FURY TO BE KNOCKED DOWN AND WIN @ 10/1

All odds via Bet365

Odds correct at the time of writing.