Unified Heavyweight Championship
The highly anticipated Heavyweight Showdown rematch between Unified Heavyweight Champion IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO/Ring Magazine Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 12 Kos) and former WBC Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury (34-2-1, 24 Kos) lived up to the “HYPE” but not without some controversy at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The former Undisputed Heavyweight Champion Usyk came in this bout laser focused and clicking on all cylinders while Fury walked in much heavier and armed with a different “game plan” that had him stand his ground in a much more aggressive manner.
Tyson’s jab was on point and very active at keeping Usyk at bay but not enough to deter him from the task at hand. Usyk fought toe-to-toe with the Big Man and bobbed and weaved as best he could while Fury did his best at maintaining his distance while being more attentive round by round.
Both combatants had their moments round by round but as the fight progressed to the second half of the bout you could see Fury slowing his work rate down probably due the excess weight he was carrying.
Nevertheless, this bout was a highly contested showdown where both combatants had to work through their respective skill sets to cancel out one another in this chess like bout inside that squared circle. Both combatants threw enough leather at one another but the accuracy of the punch output favored Usyk.
This was a very close bout to call from start to finish but after 12 full rounds of action all three Judges at hand scored it unanimously 116-112 for Oleksandr Usyk.
Listen, I don’t have a problem with Usyk being declared the winner, but I personally think that Fury, in his second go around with Usyk did a lot better than being awarded only 4 rounds in this highly competitive bout.
Controversial scores aside, Usyk retained his IBO/WBA/WBC/WBO/Ring Magazine Championship belts and is still King of the Heavyweight Division.
Well done, Champ!
Blaze