History was just made in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury threw down for 12 rounds in a match filled with momentum surges. Usyk started strong, pressuring Fury from the first bell and beginning a non-stop assault on Fury’s mid-section. A couple rounds in, however, Fury had picked up on his opponent’s timing. He began to land his own brutal body punches, as well as heavy counter uppercuts.
Midway through, it was anyone’s fight. Usyk refused to take his foot off the gas, however, pushing forward through some heavy shots and landing a left hand that rattled Fury. “The Gypsy King” was out on his feet, bouncing off the ropes left and right. Somehow, he survived the onslaught, but it did (rightly) cost him a knockdown on the scorecards.
Suddenly, Fury was deep in the hole. He managed to get back into the fight and potentially steal the twelfth, but Usyk largely controlled the latter third of the fight. Subsequently, he was named victor … though Fury doesn’t see it that way. According to Fury, he won the majority of the rounds, and Usyk is enjoying sympathy because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“I believe I won that fight. I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won a majority of them. What can you do? One of those decisions in boxing. We both put on a good fight, best we can do. You know, his country is at war, so people are siding with a country at war. Make no mistake, I won that fight in my opinion.
I’ll be back. I’ve got a rematch clause. I thank Jesus for all the victories he’s given me. I got a split-decision loss to a good little man, and I thank him again … we run it back in October. Good luck to Oleksandr, well done, God bless you.”
Indeed, a rematch clause is written into Fury’s contract, so a second showdown between the two is all but certain. Whether or not it happens in October remains to be seen, but the Fury vs. Usyk saga isn’t over just yet.