On paper, it was one of the most compelling heavyweight world title fights over the past two decades. In the ring, it was an instant classic that in the aftermath has created high demand for an immediate rematch.
Aided by a dominant ninth round that saw Tyson Fury receive a standing eight count and barely make it to the tenth round, Oleksandr Usyk overcame the six-inch height and 39-pound weight differential to retain his WBO, IBF, and WBA heavyweight championships, and capture Tyson Fury’s lineal and WBC heavyweight championships with a 115-112, 113-114, 114-113 split decision in their bout last Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
In victory, Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight world champion since Lennox Lewis won a unanimous decision over Evander Holyfield in 1999.
An emotional Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) revealed some of his personality and emotion that wasn’t pronounced leading up to the match and cried remembering his father, who died in 2012. When asked about a potential rematch, he alluded to the work he has done preparing for the clash, missing the birth of his daughter and the birthdays of his three other children.
“All (the) time training, training, training,” said the 37-year-old Ukrainian, who at 6-3 weighed in at 223.5 pounds. “My focus was only this fight. Now I’m happy. I want to (go) back home. Go to my church, pray. I wanna say, Jesus, thank you. Because for me and my country, it’s (a) big opportunity. Thank you. I (am) grateful for (those) who pray for me because many people.”
Fury, who stands 6-9 and tipped the scale at 262 pounds, acknowledged that he and his opponent left nothing in the ring.
“We put on a good fight for the fans,” said the 35-year-old native of Manchester, England, who fell to 34-1-1 (24 KOs). “I thank Oleksandr for the good fight. It was a close fight. You know I thought I did enough, but you know, I’m not a judge. I can’t judge a fight while I’m boxing it. If they would’ve said to me in the last round or whatever, you’re down, go out and try and finish him, I would’ve done that. But we believed everyone in the corner believed we were up. You know, all I had to do was just keep boxing and doing what I was doing and, you know, I thought I was getting it.”
The standing eight count proved to be the margin of victory, as it would have been a majority draw without the 10-8 round. All scorecards were credible as having the fight even, or either undefeated champion winning by a margin of 115-113 is more than credible. The only occurrences that will seemingly prevent a potential rematch for their next fights would be either fighter retiring, or Fury taking what is believed to be a more lucrative date against Anthony Joshua, who Usyk has defeated twice. Reports are that Usyk-Fury II has been proposed for October.
Next Saturday, former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder (43-3-1, 42 KOs) will try to get back in the win column against Zhilei Zhang in Saudia Arabia after a lackluster performance in a loss to Joseph Parker in December against (26-2-1, 21 KOs).
Also next Saturday, the UFC will return to the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, for the second time in 13 months with UFC 302 featuring a main event between UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev and top-five contender Dustin Poirier.