Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision to become a two-division undisputed champion. The first four-belt clash at heavyweight aired live from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 18. On his way to victory, the Ukrainian boxer dropped his British opponent securing a knockdown at the end of the ninth round. The latter was saved by the bell.
Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs), who earlier in his career collected all major belts at 200 lbs, retained his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight straps. Claiming the WBC title from Fury (34-1-1, 24), the 37-year-old southpaw of Simferopol, Crimea, Ukraine became the first undisputed heavyweight champion in almost 25 years. The scores were 114-113, 113-114, 115-112. Prior to that, Lennox Lewis unified WBA, IBF and WBC belts with his victory over Evander Holyfield in 1999.
Fury of Manchester, England suffered his first career defeat and lost his world title. In his post-fight interview inside the ring, the 35-year-old Brit said he believed he had won the fight and was looking for a rematch.
“I believe I won that fight,” Tyson Fury said. “I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won majority of them. And I believe it was… What can you do… one of them things, decisions in boxing… And we both put on a good fight, best we could do and, you know, his country is at war, so people are siding with the country at war. But make no mistake, I won that fight in my opinion and I’ll be back. I got a rematch clause.”
“I thank Jesus for all the victories he’s given me. I’ve had a split decision loss with a good little man and I thank him again in the mighty name of Jesus. We go back home to our families, and we run it back in October. Good luck to Oleksandr, well done God bless you. Happy New Year.”
“Yeah for sure,” Fury said when asked about immediate rematch. “We go back, have a little rest up, spend some time with our families and we get it back on in October. Like I said I believe I won the fight, but I’m not going to sit here and cry and make excuses. It was a good fight. Thank you.”
Oleksandr Usyk, who in 2022 joined the territorial defense battalion amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, said “yes, of course” to a rematch. “One more time, do a good fight!”
At the post-fight press conference, when asked about “rematch thoughts” Fury said: “We’ve just had a fight. If you can see my face I’m pretty busted up and he’s gone to the hospital with a broken jaw and he’s busted too. So we punch f*** out of each other for 12 rounds there. So we’re going to go home, eat some food, drink a few beers, spend some family time, walk my dog, go to the tip and me and Frank [Warren] will talk about what’s going to happen in the future.”
English promoter Frank Warren added: “No rush for anything”.