Oleksandr Usyk is the first boxer to defeat Tyson Fury in the professional ring. Usyk became the first undisputed heavyweight champion in 25 years.
Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk the British won Tyson Fury’s and became the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of the world.
Usyk beat Fury early in the morning Finnish time in Saudi Arabia in a tight match by unanimous decision. Two of the judges declared the victory for Usyk with scores of 115–112 and 114–113, while the third would have given the victory to Fury with a score of 114–113.
Usyk previously held the IBF, IBO, WBO and WBA championships. He now took the WBC championship from Fury.
The two went into their meeting undefeated, so the loss was Fury’s first in his career. Usyk, on the other hand, continues his career undefeated. He was also previously the undisputed champion of the lower heavyweight division. At the 2012 London Olympics, Usyk won gold.
This is how the match went
Usyk started the match strong, but after the third round, the command passed to Fury. The 206-centimeter Fury dominated the match with his versatile punches, his reach, got several strong hits on Usyk, and the Ukrainian was in some places on the bottom.
In the seventh round, Usyk caught the plot again: the Ukrainian landed hard left hand direct blows and even had to knock out Fury in the 9th round. Fury had to take a number, but survived the set.
After securing the victory, Usyk was moved to tears in the ring.
– Thank you my team, Usyk said.
37-year-old Usyk described the match as a big opportunity for himself, his family and his country. Usyk briefly served as a soldier after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
– Great moment, great day, Usyk said after his victory.
– The Ukrainians are hitting hard! And in the end, all our opponents will fall, the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi declared on social media after Usyk’s victory.
Usyk has now defeated two extremely tough names in the heavyweight division: in addition to Fury, Usyk has defeated Anthony Joshua two times.
Right after the match in the ring, Fury already had a rematch in mind and talked about October. Usyk said he was ready for a repeat.
Despite the disappointment served by Usyk, Fury described the encounter between the two as fantastic, but he disagreed with the outcome of the match.
– I believe I won the match. He won a few rounds, but I won most of them,” Fury declared after his loss.
– His country is at war, so people are on the side of the country at war, Fury said.
The undisputed heavyweight champion was now crowned for the first time in about a quarter of a century. The last time all the championship belts were won by a Briton Lennox Lewiswhen he defeated the American Evander Holyfield in 1999. At that time there were three belts.