Oleksandr Usyk solidified his claim as this season’s big man defeated Tyson Fury for all the marbles in the heavyweight division. (Photo by Mikey Williams-Top Rank)
While the old adage, ‘A big un, beats a good un’ still holds true, Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury served to remind us of that ability and that he will play a key role in ending that statistic.
Usyk has been cool all week, while Fury has been as erratic as ever; he spoke strongly at the press conference before barking obscenities at the scale.
It’s all part of the theater of the unexpected.
It’s not often that boxing is the biggest sporting event of the weekend, but this was one of those times. Entry pundits are evenly split on The Ring’s Fight Picks.
Turki AlalShikh gave boxing a real boost and let’s believe that any fight is possible no matter who their promoter is or what TV channel they are with.
Usyk and Fury have not been able to come to an agreement for a number of reasons, but His Highness was able to break down those barriers and make the impossible happen.
We had to wait another three months when Fury was cut before the opening day of February 17. It all added up to the game. After all, we’ve been waiting over 20 years for an undisputed heavyweight champion. What difference would another three months make?
The razzmatazz that accompanies such a great spectacle was there as well as an undercard that set things right.
Oleksandr Usyk hasn’t backed down from Tyson Fury at any point in the build-up to their May 18 bout. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
When the opening bell rang, Usyk quickly got involved and started the action and this was true throughout. Despite dropping 30 pounds and various other body gains he had no problem getting into the fire.
The Ukrainian wizard started well and, on my card, won the first three rounds. However, in the third there were signs of life from Fury, who then turned on Usyk and I felt I won the fourth to sixth rounds with a couple of well-timed takedowns and some good body work that seemed to bother Usyk, thus evening the fight.
What we have seen in the past is when Usyk needed, he responded in the same way and it was the same here. The seventh was a swing round for me and Usyk successfully stopped the rot. There was little doubt in the eighth when Usyk bloodied Fury’s nose with a well-timed left hand, and late in the ninth Usyk rocked Fury badly, dropping him like a drunken barman on the ropes. Usyk’s accuracy bent Fury’s head back into the ropes when referee Mark Nelson intervened and counted Fury. It was Shellacking Fury that was taken when Nelson stopped the fight that you couldn’t really argue with, but he might have been thinking about Fury’s healing powers. Fury rose to his feet and looked as if he had worked. Nelson seemed to take ages to count and by then the round was over.
A minute’s rest was not enough but Fury was able to come out in Round 10 and although he was still shaken he was able to stay on his feet. Usyk decided not to empty the fuel tank and took out Fury in the calculated manner and took the round.
Usyk dominated again in the 11th, and the 12th was again, for my money, a swing round. I had no doubt that Usyk was the winner but it wasn’t my scorecard that mattered. Michael Buffer read 115-112 Usyk, 114-113 Fury then 114-113 Usyk.
Thankfully the right man won but it’s worrying how Craig Metcalfe came away with Fury as the winner. I don’t remember Fury in the post-fight interview saying he won.
The 21st century saw the greatest fights of all time and revealed to the world the undisputed heavyweight boxer in the world : Oleksandr Usyk
In the land of Riyadh, history has been made. Great fight Fury as expected, we look forward to the rematch! pic.twitter.com/sJPfcRwlH2– TURKI ALALSHIKH (@Turki_alalshikh) May 19, 2024
Heading into the weekend, The Ring had Naoya Inoue as the No. 1, Terence Crawford at No. 2 and Usyk No. 3.
Good performance even got Crawford’s attention.
Man, you better be respectful @usykaa a man. Definitely the #1 P4P fighter in the world. I’m not a hater. He beat the man who beat the man in the big league, giving up what he had done. Hello brother!
— Terence Crawford (@terencecrawford) May 18, 2024
Both teams had agreed before the fight to have a rematch scheduled for October and nothing changed during their interview after the fight.
There seems to be little other than adding to his bank account Usyk can do in boxing. After winning gold at the 2012 Olympics as part of Ukraine’s dream team alongside the likes of Oleksandr Gvozdyk, Vasiliy Lomachenko and Denys Berinchyk, he added to his country’s joy with a world title a few hours later.
Usyk turned professional in late 2013. I vividly remember seeing him at the venue when I attended Wladimir Klitschko-Kubrat Pulev in Hamburg, Germany in November 2014. We spoke briefly but it always struck me how I was ringside, when he was there. outer container, basically in the crowd. I had to go to him as he was not allowed to be at ringside.
His talent was never questioned, he won the WBO title in his tenth fight against the undefeated Krzysztof Glowacki in his native Poland. After a few defenses, he met his WBC teammate Mairis Briedis again behind enemy lines, this time in Latvia. He became the undefeated Ring Magazine champion with a near perfect match against Murat Gassiev in Russia to add to Muhammad Ali’s title.
He first took time to establish himself at heavyweight against the likes of Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora but after finding a knockout he was able to beat Anthony Joshua twice, Daniel Dubois and now Fury. Not too shabby.
Usyk is the first ballot of the farmer, who is probably in the best field. Not bad for someone who couldn’t even get into a heavyweight title fight a decade ago.
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