There can solely be one heavyweight champion, and he’s from Ukraine.
Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) defeated Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) by break up determination in a dramatic, seesaw battle to seize the undisputed championship Saturday night at Kingdom Area in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
With the victory, Usyk grew to become solely the second former undisputed cruiserweight champion, following Evander Holyfield, to repeat the deed at heavyweight.
It appears to be like like the 2 will do it once more, as a rematch is tentatively deliberate for October.
Usyk stated, “Sure, in fact. Rematch. I’m prepared!”
“I consider I received that combat. I consider he received a couple of of the rounds. I assumed I received a majority of them, and I consider it was a — what are you able to do — these are the selections in boxing. We each placed on a great combat, the perfect we may do,” Fury stated, “We return, have a bit relaxation up, spend a while with our households, and get it again on in October.”
Fury succeeded within the early rounds, peppering Usyk with savage proper palms to the physique. Simply because it regarded just like the reigning lineal champion would add one other notch to his Corridor of Fame belt, Usyk shocked Fury with an overhand left in spherical 9 that despatched him reeling into the ropes. A collection of energy photographs, punctuated by one other sweeping left, despatched Fury staggering close to a impartial nook. Referee Mark Nelson known as it a knockdown, and Fury rose gingerly to his ft because the bell sounded to finish the stanza.
Fury one way or the other recovered, however the tide had turned. The 223-pound Usyk was pushing the tempo towards the 262-pound behemoth, successful the tenth and eleventh rounds on two of the scorecards to safe the victory. Fury rebounded to win the twelfth on all three playing cards, however it was too late. Usyk, a 2012 Olympic gold medalist, is now king of the heavyweight division.
In different outcomes:
Cruiserweight: Jai Opetaia (25-0, 19 KOs) UD 12 Mairis Briedis (28-3, 20 KOs), Scores: 117-111 and 116-112 2x. Opetaia wins IBF Cruiserweight World Title & Retains Ring Journal Cruiserweight Title.
Junior Light-weight: Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KOs) TKO 8 Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KOs), :39. Cacace wins IBF World Title.
Heavyweight: Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KOs) KO 7 Frank Sanchez (24-1, 17 KOs), 2:33. WBC Title Eliminator.
Heavyweight: Moses Itauma (9-0, 7 KOs) TKO 2 Ilja Mezencev (25-4, 21 KOs), :50. Itauma wins WBO Intercontinental Title.
Light-weight: Mark Chamberlain (16-0, 12 KOs) TKO 1 Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab (23-2, 16 KOs), 2:42. Chamberlain wins vacant WBC Silver Title.
Cruiserweight: Robin Sirwan Safar (17-0, 12 KOs) UD 10 Sergey Kovalev (35-5-1, 29 KOs), Scores: 99-90, 97-92 and 95-94.
Gentle Heavyweight: Daniel Lapin (10-0, 4 KOs) KO 1 Octavio Pudivitr (9-2, 4 KOs), Time: 1:47.
Featherweight: Isaac Lowe (25-2-3, 8 KOs) PTS 10 Hasibullah Ahmadi (16-2, 5 KOs), Rating: 97-92.
