In a historic fight for the ages Oleksandr Usyk battered Tyson Fury to earn a split decision victory in Riyadh. The Ukrainian against the odds has handed Tyson Fury his 1st professional defeat. After pursuing this fight fight for 2 years and having it rescheduled Usyk has achieved his dream of undisputed at heavyweight.
Oleksandr Usyk Victory
The fight started well for Usyk for the first few rounds pressuring Fury effectively. Usyk would land his left straight to both body and head as Fury looked to maintain distance. In these early rounds Fury primarily was flicking out his jab and showboating.
However, round 4 saw the beginning of Fury having significant success. Fury began to land good body shots on Usyk with hooks to the body and right hands. This opened up Usyk to more headshots and limited Usyks movement allowing Fury to land uppercuts and right hands to the head. At one point stunning Usyk and draining his energy .Fury was seemingly beating up Usyk handily from rounds 4-7.
But, then Usyk realising the fight was getting away from him upped the gears. The later rounds displayed the difference in cardio and skill level in the 2 fighters. Usyk had a good round 8 against a tiring Fury getting back into his groove. Then came round 9 Usyks best round of the fight. Usyk’s pressure continued increasingly landing more shots. And with 30 seconds to go landed a great left hand. This shot had Fury all over the place bouncing around the ring like a pin ball as Usyk continued to unload. And Fury being held up by the ropes was given a standing 8 count and survived the round.
Arguably the fight could have been stopped in that 9th round Fury wasn’t throwing back and literally was being held up by the ropes. But. regardless Usyk continued to have succes in the final 3rd of the fight. Usyk continued to outwork a tired Fury and land the cleaner more accurate shots. Fury laboured his way through the final few rounds and made it to the final bell. And Usyk was awarded a split decision victory.
Reactions to The Fight
After the decision most of the bocing public were happy with the win. Despite the fight being a close affair with close rounds Usyk separated himself enough to earn the win. Fury himself unsurprisingly thought he should have won but acknowledged the fight was close in the post fight press conference. Fury’s promoters also unsurprisingly thought Tyson deserved the win both Frank Warren and Bob Arum believing Fury won. But again they to admitted it was close.
In terms of boxers reactions they varied. Former unified super middleweight champ Carl Froch believed Usyk deserved the win. Interestingly a former opponent of Froch George Groves also thought Usyk deserved the win. Former cruiserweight and heavyweight champion David Haye also had Usyk winning . However former welterweight champ Kell Brook had Fury winning and Gervonta Davis current WBA lightweight champ believed Fury won.
The Future
This win for Oleksandr Usyk is everything achieving a lifelong dream and establishing himself with the greats. He was already considered the GOAT of cruiserweight and has now cemented himself a great legacy at heavyweight. In an ideal world Usyk has a nice retirement into the sunset retiring as undisputed. However, there is a rematch clause for this fight which Fury seems intent on activating.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
