Two of the most dynamic heavyweight fighters faced off in a historic clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury fought the WBA (Super), WBO, IBO, IBF, and The Ring Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk inside the Kingdom Arena. The winner of the fight would create history as they would become the first-ever undisputed heavyweight king in the modern era.
USYK MAKES HIS WAY TO THE RING 🎶#FuryUsyk | Live NOW on DAZN! Click link in bio to buy. #RingOfFire | #RiyadhSeason | @Turki_alalshikh | @usykaa pic.twitter.com/1BkTD5I6fU
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Heading into the bout, Usyk was coming off impressive wins against Daniel Dubois and Anthony Joshua. Fury, on the other hand, had quite a dodgy performance against the former UFC heavyweight champion, Francis Ngannou. Many even opined that Ngannou was robbed on the scorecards. So this was quite an interesting battle that would forever define how each fighter’s legacy would look at the end of their illustrious careers.
Tyson Fury dominated Oleksandr Usyk early in the fight
Ahead of the fight, both Ukraine’s and England’s national anthems were played to honor Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury respectively. As Michael Buffer introduced the fighters, the camera panned to the front row where Anthony Joshua was sitting with former Manchester United striker and current Al-Nassr superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo. Joshua is definitely one of the contenders to face the winner of this bout.
As the bout kicked off, both fighters started with some stiff jabs. While not much action took place early in round 1, Fury backed himself into the corner with one minute left on the clock. He showboated and invited pressure from Usyk, who did manage to land some hard punches successfully. It riled Usyk up who kicked off round 2 with a nasty hook that stunned the British fighter momentarily.
Despite the huge size disadvantage, Usyk never had any problems finding his range. In the opening rounds, it was the Ukranian fighter who landed the better strikes whereas Fury relied on his usual antics to try and get under Usyk’s skin. In round 3, Oleksandr Usyk opened up even more and started to walk down the WBC Heavyweight Champion. Unlike the first two rounds, the 37-year-old seemed less worried about Fury’s strikes.
Fury gonna Fury 😄#FuryUsyk | Live NOW on DAZN! Click link in bio to buy. #RingOfFire | #RiyadhSeason | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/QDWffOQGBt
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 18, 2024
Before the beginning of round 4, Fury seemed nonchalant about getting outworked by his opponent. Interestingly, Fury was not using his right hand which has been pretty lethal lately. However, he picked up his activity in the fourth round. From jabs to hooks, almost everything that Fury landed, had an impact on his opponent. But, Usyk is an incredibly tough man who refused to retreat.
Round 5 saw “The Gypsy King” continuing the momentum he created for himself in the previous round. It was a dominating round where Tyson completely shut out Usyk’s offense and landed a lot of strikes that made up for his previous lack of activity. The 35-year-old took things to another level in round 6 where he wobbled Usyk multiple times and seemed close to securing a knockdown.
The difference in size was evident as every time Fury wanted to tag Usyk, he did it with ease midway through the contest. At the beginning of round 7, the fight almost looked like a formality. But, ruling out Usyk is a mistake for anybody and Usyk proved so as he closed out the round with some heavy punches that seemed to hurt Fury.
Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury to become the undisputed heavyweight champion
The Ukrainian fighter wanted to keep the same momentum going as he threw caution to the wind and swang for the fences. He managed to do so successfully as Fury seemed to backpaddle midway through round 8. Fury’s decision to drop his hands and lack of respect for his opponent very nearly cost him big time. But Fury seemed to make some changes in round 9.
WOW. #FuryUsyk | Live NOW on DAZN! Click link in bio to buy. #RingOfFire | #RiyadhSeason | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/d5XfztRRAP
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 18, 2024
Instead of walking backward, Fury started to counter some of the punches. But, that did nothing to discourage Usyk who seemed to put everything behind the punches and it paid off! In the last few seconds of the ninth round, Usyk hurt Fury badly and seemed just one more heavy strike away from securing a KO win. However, Fury intelligently rested himself on the ring and decided to concede a knockdown in order to recover.
As the ref was about to restart the contest, the bell rang, which gave Fury another chance to recover between the rounds. As round 10 ended, Usyk already created a major milestone as he became the fighter to land the most amount of punches against Tyson Fury. As the championship rounds kicked in, Usyk wanted to catch Fury off-guard with a lunging hook.
But the English fighter was alert enough to avoid that and keep fighting. Commentators made an interesting observation during round 11 of the bout. Fury did not use his jab enough, which was one of the best weapons in his arsenal. As the final round kicked off, the bout was still on the balance with both fighters throwing some big punches. But, it was evident that Usyk was the fresher fighter in round 12.
WHAT A FIGHT. JUST GREATNESS IN THERE.#FuryUsyk | Live NOW on DAZN! Click link in bio to buy. #RingOfFire | #RiyadhSeason | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/a7ZOHT7ljc
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) May 18, 2024
The last few seconds of the contest were utter chaos as both tried to knock the fighter out. However, the contest went the full distance. Ahead of the bout, it was billed as one of the biggest fights in the modern era, and the contest certainly lived up to it. Despite both the fighters leaving it all in the ring, one fighter had to win and it was Usyk. Two judges had it 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk and one had it 114-113 for Fury.
With that, Tyson Fury is no longer an undefeated fighter. Usyk, on the other hand, is the Undisputed Heavyweight Boxing World Champion, the first one since Lennox Lewis 25 years ago. It will be interesting to see which way the rematch goes. Can Fury dethrone Usyk in the rematch? Only time will tell. Let us know your thoughts on the fights in the comments below.