Oleksandr Usyk cemented his legacy as a true all-time boxing great after beating Tyson Fury in a thrilling fight in Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian claimed a deserved split-decision victory in Saturday night’s mammoth main event in Riyadh to become boxing’s first undisputed heavyweight world champion since the great Lennox Lewis beat Evander Holyfield in 1999.
Usyk is the first undisputed king of the sport’s traditional glamour division in the modern four-belt era, having also previously reigned as the first four-belt undisputed champion at cruiserweight between 2018 and 2019.
It is the latest momentous achievement in a remarkable career, with Usyk having also won Olympic, World and European gold as an accomplished amateur.
He stays unbeaten and moves to 22-0 after adding the WBC belt to his WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO and The Ring heavyweight titles, while a disappointed Fury drops to 34-1 after suffering the first loss of his professional career.
On Saturday night’s stacked undercard, Jai Opetaia outlasted a late comeback in his rematch with veteran Mairis Briedis to regain the IBF cruiserweight title.
Joe Cordina suffered the first defeat of his professional career and lost the IBF super-featherweight belt with a shock eighth-round stoppage by Belfast’s Anthony Cacace, who added to his IBO strap in a major upset.
Agit Kabayel became the mandatory challenger for the WBC world heavyweight title now held by Usyk after dominating Frank Sanchez, dropping the previously undefeated Cuban twice in the seventh round with body shots as he followed up his sensational win over Arslanbek Makhmudov before Christmas.
Rising heavyweight star Moses Itauma moved to 9-0 with a destructive early knockout of Ilja Mezencev, while Portsmouth lightweight Mark Chamberlain provided a savage first-round stoppage of Nigeria’s Joshua Wahab.
Former unified light-heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev’s first fight for two years at age 41 ended in disappointing defeat by unbeaten Swede Robin Safar, while New Zealand cruiserweight David Nyika stopped Germany’s Michael Seitz.
In the early prelims, Fury’s friend and training partner Isaac Lowe took a decision against Hasibullah Ahmadi and Usyk’s compatriot Daniel Lapin provided a sensational first-round knockout of Octavio Pudivitr.
More to follow
Source Agencies
