Christmas is a’coming but apart from the weather – yes, the weather – you wouldn’t know it here.
Land in the wee small hours in Riyadh and as soon as the plane door opens you regret not bringing an overcoat, gloves and a fur hat.
Officially the night-time temperature here is about four degrees but the wind is freezing.
Out there in the desert Saudi Arabia has just experienced its first-ever recorded snowfall.
It warms up under the midday sun but when you venture out from your heated room you will not find so much as one single sparkle of decoration in your hotel lobby or the malls, where the shopping is year-round manic not seasonal.
Forget the tree, the carols, Santa. And never mind that in the neighbouring emirates of Qatar, Dubai and Abu Dhabi tourists will be greeted by these symbols of a different faith.
Oleksandr Usyk beat Tyson Fury in May, and is focused on winning their rematch on Saturday
Usyk was seen kissing a cross during the first fight, and will rely on his Christian faith again in the rematch
Usyk is also taking inspiration from Ukraine’s soldiers amid his nation’s ongoing war with Russia
After all, this Kingdom is the heart-land of Islam. Mecca, the holiest place of all, is a dusty 500 mile drive from the capital.
This week it has taken the heavyweight champion of the world to bring the message of Christianity to this devout land of minarets and mosques.
Oleksandr Usyk arrived here for his rematch with Tyson Fury with his mind very much on his orthodox religious belief.
He has brought with him not only his ever-enlarging Ukrainian entourage but the cross which his trainer put to his lips midway through the first fight here, which cynics wrongly seized upon as suspicion of a dubious substance.
‘This particular cross is a present from one of the Greek monasteries where I go,’ he says. ‘It gives me strength and leads me to victory. When I touch it I feel the love of God. I see myself as a sinner who needs help from the Father of Paradise to overcome my sins.’
Awkwardly, since he intends to do it more often on Saturday, he confesses one of his biggest sins has been ‘hitting Fury in the face’ in their first fight.
For this he finds absolution in the spiritual and human succour his victories bring to his embattled countrymen fighting in the trenches of Ukraine’s desperate war with Russia.
‘I do this for our warriors,’ he says. ‘I tell you one story from friends there. The guys in the front line keep in touch with the second line by special communication for their instructions. They all have nicknames and at the end of the first fight they thought a message was coming through about a new emergency but one called Rocket was told I had become the undisputed world heavyweight champion. He shouted the news and they all started cheering. Oh yeah. Okay.’
Fury has pitched up vowing to ‘smash in the face’ of the man who inflicted the only defeat of his career and ‘give him a terrible beating’ so as to force a decisive trilogy fight.
Usyk remains respectful and compassionate in return. Of the miscarriage which Fury’s wife suffered in the week of the first fight he says: ‘It’s incredibly sad. I pray that everything is fine with them and that the trauma is not so deep that it influences their lives too much. I wish them all the best.’
Although the Gypsy King is putting his fight face on now he has been more mutually respectful of late. Refraining from the personal insults towards the smaller man who he dismissed as ‘a sausage’ before he was the one who got bitten.
Usyk has remained respectful towards Fury and has refused to engage in a war of words
Usyk remains humble, and was visited by the last undisputed heavyweight champion before him, Lennox Lewis, during his training camp as he plots Fury’s downfall
Usyk observes: ‘Tyson speaks less than he used to. Maybe he has changed. Maybe this is another of his games. I don’t know but I don’t really care what he says about me. I have no anger towards him. Only respect.’
Where Fury is the incorrigible showman, Usyk speaks with humility. Especially to his children: ‘My two boys and my daughter watched the first fight back home on television and were very afraid and nervous. But when I got home they were happy and told me that I’m a real legend now.
‘Hmmm, no I said. Legend speaks of very high-class. I am just a simple guy. I don’t want people to put me up as an icon. I don’t need that.’
Usyk’s respect for brother fighters extends to his immediate predecessor as undisputed heavyweight King: ‘I was excited that Lennox Lewis came to visit me in my training camp in Spain. I recalled watching him fight on television and, wow, here he was. My kids and wife were thrilled and demanded autographs. I had the pictures we took made into posters which he signed. One to be sold to raise funds for our soldiers and the other to hang on the wall at home.’
Fury will not be deceived by the boyish excitement. His training camp in Malta has been the most intense of his career. So spartan that far from being visited there by his wife he did not speak to her or the kids during the entire three months.
As Usyk might have told him, failing to take this fight between the two best fighters in the world today seriously would be nothing less than….a sin.
HOW TO WATCH: Click to register and watch Usyk vs. Fury 2 on DAZN here
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