Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision on Sunday to become the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in 24 years.
Usyk (22-0) added Fury’s WBC title to his WBA, IBF and IBO belts with a spectacular late rally highlighted by a ninth-round knockdown in a back-and-forth bout between two previously unbeaten heavyweight champions. Two judges favored Usyk by scores of 115-112 and 114-113, while a third gave it to Fury 114-113.
“It’s a good time. It’s a good day,” Usyk said.
Usyk started quickly but had to survive while the confident and charismatic Fury dominated the middle rounds. Usyk rallied in the final round. The Ukrainian Olympic gold medalist dominated, as he has done several times in his career, to a dominant eighth place and almost stopped Fury in ninth.
Usyk hurt Fury (34-1-1) with left hands and eventually forced Fury into the corner in the final seconds of the round, scoring a knockdown just before Fury was stopped by the bell. Fury advanced to the 10th, but had trouble maintaining consistent offense after almost getting blocked.
Yusik held back tears in the ring and said, “I’m so grateful to my team.” “This is a great opportunity for me, my family and my country. Slava Ukraini!”
Fury kissed Usyk’s head after the final bell rang. Fury also said he wanted a rematch in October.
“I believe I won that fight,” Fury said. “I believe he won a few rounds, but I won most of them, and I believe it was one of those things you can do in boxing… and one of the decisions. We’re both going to give it a good fight, the best we can.
“Because his country is at war, people are siding with the country at war. But make no mistake, I think he won that fight and he will come back. There is a rematch clause.”
Usyk, 37, is the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis held the title for five months in 1999 and 2000. He also became the lineal heavyweight champion, defeating Fury, who earned that honor by defeating Wladimir Klitschko in 2015.
Usyk is six inches shorter than the 6-foot-9 Fury and weighed 30 pounds lighter than the massive British star this week. The size difference hasn’t mattered to Usyk, who has used his athleticism and skill to tackle every challenge he’s faced since moving up from cruiserweight to heavyweight in 2019.
According to CompuBox statistics, Usyk landed 41% of his 407 punches, while Fury landed just 31.7% of his 496 punches. Usyk threw more power punches than both (260-210) and landed (122-95).
Usyk upset Anthony Joshua to win three title belts in 2021, retaining them through two defenses while en route to a final showdown with Fury in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk now joins an elite club of fighters who hold every major world championship belt in the heavyweight division. He is the first player to achieve this in the four-belt era that began in 2007. The list of undisputed champions includes Jack Dempsey and Joe Louis. , Floyd Patterson, Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Mike Tyson.
The most recent undisputed heavyweight champion was Lewis, who beat Evander Holyfield in late 1999 and reigned for five months. He soon lost the title due to the territorial disputes that have plagued boxing for the past 25 years and routinely prevented the biggest fights from taking place.
Fury and Usyk both requested this matchup, and thanks to Saudi Arabia’s intervention, they finally got together in the ring. This is because the financial rewards were too great for the fighter’s usually stubborn promoters and sanctioning bodies to refuse. Fury is expected to earn more than $100 million from this fight.
To reach the lucrative Western pay-per-view audience, the fight didn’t start until 1:45 a.m. Sunday at the Kingdom Arena.
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