In the highly anticipated heavyweight clash that took place on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) by way of split-decision and won the undisputed heavyweight crown.
It was a historic win for Usyk as he joins Naoya Inoue and Terence “Bud” Crawford as the only three male boxers to win undisputed in two-weight classes. In addition to that incredible accomplishment, Usyk also became the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
In the opening round of the undefeated vs undefeated, undisputed heavyweight world championship match, Fury came out feinting and firing the jab. Usyk was pressing forward, rocking from side to side, and consistently throwing shots to the body.
Usyk started the second round with a big left-hand shot. Usyk continued to target the body while Fury threw the jab and the occasional right hand. Early in the fourth round, Fury connected with a couple of combinations. After an unintentional headbutt, Fury landed a sharp uppercut.
Fury focused on the body of Usyk in the fifth round as he landed the right to the body on multiple occasions. Tyson Fury was in complete control in the sixth round as he connected with the right hand, a big uppercut, and sharp shots to the body.
The southpaw Oleksandr Usyk responded in the 7th round as he was able to consistently connect with the left hand. In the 8th round, it appeared Usyk found the range as he continued to hit the target with the left.
Usyk landed a big left hand in the ninth round that knocked Fury off balance. Usyk was on the attack as he landed a flurry of power shots. Fury’s chin was like granite, but his legs were giving out on him as he was stumbling around the ring from corner to corner.
As he continued to get hit with shot after shot, Fury fell into the ropes and the referee called it a knockdown. Fury was givin the standing 8 count, and then seconds later Tyson Fury was saved by the bell.
Fury was able to recuperate and get back to landing his offense, but down the stretch, Usyk was the boxer landing the clean eye-catching punches.
After twelve rounds of boxing, one judge scored the bout 114-113 for Fury, but that card was overruled by the other two judges who scored it 115-112 and 114-113 in favor of Usyk.
Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) pulled off the biggest win of his career as he dedicated the victory to his late father. By defeating Fury, Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis accomplished the feat back in 1999.
The Ukrainian boxer, Oleksandr Usyk, is the former king of the cruiserweights, the current king of the heavyweight division, and probably the favorite to be labeled as the pound-for-pound king of the sport of boxing.
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