The highly anticipated heavyweight title bout between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk definitely lived up to the hype after the two undefeated fighters went the distance in a thrilling back-and-forth battle. In the end, two judges scored the fight in favor of Usyk, who becomes the first undisputed heavyweight champion in the four-belt era.
The judges scored it 115-112, 114-113 and 113-114.
Fury narrowly escaped defeat in his last fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, and once again couldn’t maintain his championship form versus Usyk on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Fury may have underestimated both Ngannou and Usyk and Saturday’s loss might be further evidence of a steady decline after a long reign as the WBC heavyweight champion.
Usyk’s technical prowess and consistency paid off in the later rounds after Fury dominated the middle rounds. Usyk was able to rally toward the end of the fight and scored a knockdown on Fury in the ninth round. Initially considered an underdog, Usyk’s odds climbed as the fight neared, but Fury still entered the ring as the favorite after looking absolutely fit at Friday’s weigh-in.
After the fight, Fury said he intends to enact the rematch clause against Usyk and fight him again in October.
Here’s how the entire Ring of Fire card unfolded:
LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER134 updates
Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk full results
Heavyweight: Oleksandr Usyk def. Tyson Fury by split decision (115-112, 114-113, 113-114)
Cruiserweight: Jai Opetaia def. Mairis Breidis by unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112)
Super featherweight: Anthony Cacace def. Joe Cordina via TKO at 0:39 of R8
Heavyweight: Agit Kabayel def. Frank Sanchez by KO at 2:33 of R7
Heavyweight: Moses Itauma def. Ilja Mezencev by TKO at 0:50 of R2
Lightweight: Mark Chamberlain def. Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab by TKO at 2:42 of R1
Light heavyweights: Robin Sirwan Safar def. Sergey Kovalev by unanimous decision 97-92, 99-90, 95-94
Cruiserweight: David Nyika def. Michael Seitz by TKO at 2:45 of R4
Source Agencies
