Tyson Fury is bigger. Oleksandr Usyk is better. And, as the latter implied earlier, skill will generally trump everything else.
Usyk overcame some shaky first rounds to score a dramatic knockout in Round 9 and went on to defeat Fury by split decision on Saturday at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, becoming the division champion first undisputed heavyweight in a quarter of a century
One judge scored it for Fury, 114-113, but the other two gave Usyk the win, 115-112 and 114-113, in an exciting fight that couldn’t have been any closer.
Afterwards, Fury, who insisted he deserved the nod, made it clear that he planned to implement a rematch clause in his fighters’ contracts. And Usyk, although clearly exhausted, insisted he had no objections to a second fight.
“It was a great time, a great day,” Usyk said when asked for his reaction after raising his hand.
Lennox Lewis became the last undisputed heavyweight champion when he defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999, after which the titles were forever divided. That’s what makes Saturday’s match so important, even historic.
And Fury and Usyk have certainly earned the right to compete for boxing’s biggest title, as both have never lost and have enjoyed success at the sport’s highest levels.
Their performance remains lively until now.
Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) began to control the fight in the third round, when he found a fighting grove behind his jab and landed powerful punches – many of them. on people – with surprising consistency given Usyk’s ability.
The Ukrainian didn’t fall much from that point until the sixth round but he never stopped moving forward, evidence of a fighting spirit that would soon pay off.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KO) had a strong 8th round but then knocked Fury out in the next round, when he landed a left that buckled Fury’s knee and severely injured him. . Usyk, nearly 40 pounds lighter than Fury, followed up with a brutal strike that left Fury staggering across the ring.
That could be a reason for referee Mark Nelson to stop the match at any time. Instead, Nelson knocked Usyk down in the final seconds of the round, allowing Fury to continue fighting.
Fury, known for his recovery, somehow regained his footing in Round 10 but by that time Usyk was rolling, outmaneuvering Fury and landing more clean punches to put make a close decision.
The kill seemed to be the difference in points. If Fury had lost the round 10-9 instead of 10-8, the two scores of 114-113 would have been 114-114, meaning the fight would have ended in a draw.
Fury thought he did enough to win despite being knocked down.
“I believe I will not fight that match, Alexander,” he then told his opponent bluntly. “I believe you won a few [the rounds] But I won most of them. What can you do? That’s one of them [bad] decision in boxing.
“We both fought well, the best we could do. His district is at war. Therefore, people took the side of the country during the war. But make no mistake, in my opinion, I won that battle And I will be back. I have a rematch clause.”
In fact, it was an important topic in the post-fight interviews.
Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren confirmed that the contact had a rematch clause. And Fury reiterated his desire to do it again when asked if he would like to fight again immediately.
“Yeah, sure,” he said. “We’ll come back, rest a little, spend time with our families and we’ll come back in October. Like I said, I think I won the fight.
“But I won’t cry and make excuses. It was a good fight.”
Usyk was then asked if he would be willing to meet Fury again in the fall.
“Yes, of course,” he said. “If he wants, I’m ready to fight again.”
It seems like nothing is resolved at the pinnacle of the heavyweight division.
