DAVID HAYE was not impressed with the way referee Mark Nelson acted following the heavyweight belt fight between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury.
The former United cruiserweight champion and WBA heavyweight champion was among the 20,000 people who turned out to watch the first undisputed champion in 25 years.
With the eyes of the sports world focused on the Kingdom Arena, everything had to be perfect for this historic event. And in the ninth round, it looked like Usyk was about to close the show and stop the giant ‘Gypsy King’. With seconds remaining, the WBC champion was on his feet but everywhere at once. Usyk tried to finish the job, but Nelson stepped in between them, getting the figure eight out of a frustrated Fury.
Charlie Crowhurst / Getty Images
“It was good, I thought it should be stopped,” Haye said of the ninth stage.
“I thought I’d let him finish boxing, but I jumped in to stop the match and count him out and give him 20 seconds, I thought that was bad.
“Some referees are very bad in such an important fight. Can you imagine if one of the judges had it the other way and Usyk would have lost after Tyson Fury was completely standing and didn’t fall?
Haye, who was due to fight Fury in 2013 but pulled out due to the suspension, said “the right guy won” in Usyk.
“A big fight. Without that takedown, I think the judges would have been more in favor of Fury. I didn’t expect Usyk to have that kind of punch power and have him in that kind of trouble. I thought it was better for Syk to be the one walking around with the fist, but he was the one hunting Fury the whole way.
“Fury was doing funny things, he was playing and the good guy won, it was really nice to see, I was really happy about it.“
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