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On Saturday night, December 21, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, undefeated WBO, WBA and WBC world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury for the second time. time and solidified his place as a Libra. king of the pound and the best heavyweight of this era.
Tyson Fury came into the rematch well prepared, as he was focused on executing his game plan. Fury began the fight with an adjustment he made from the first fight, but despite the adjustment, at the end of the fight, Usyk was once again declared the winner.
Oleksandr Usyk won his first world title in September 2016 when he defeated Krzysztof Glowacki by unanimous decision to win the WBO cruiserweight title. Two years later, Usyk became a unified champion when he defeated Mairis Briedis to win the WBC belt.
Usyk would go on to make history by defeating Murat Gassiev and capturing the WBA and IBF world title belts. With the victory, Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era. Usyk also became the first cruiserweight to go undisputed since Evander Holyfield did so 30 years earlier, back in 1988.
While Usyk dominated the cruiserweight division, a trio of boxers jockeyed for position as boxing fans tried to figure out which one would become the heavyweight king. Tyson Fury was the boxer, Anthony Joshua was the popular boxer-puncher and Deontay Wilder was known as the knockout artist.
Fury and Wilder would meet in December 2018, as the entertaining fight ended in a split decision draw. In February 2020, Fury won their rematch and looked like he was ready to break away and become the top heavyweight. However, a year later, a wild card made its formal presentation to the division.
On September 25, 2021, Oleksandr Usyk made a statement when he defeated the face of the heavyweight division, Anthony Joshua, by unanimous decision and won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles. Joshua was better prepared for the second fight but again came up short as Usyk won the rematch via split decision.
Usyk fought Daniel Dubois and stopped him in the ninth round. Next on Usyk’s agenda was the chance to make history when he steps into the ring in May 2024 to face undefeated WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Usyk was the aggressor and forced Fury to fight on the back foot. At the end of the 12-round contest, Oleksandr Usyk won by split decision. With the victory over Fury, Oleksandr Usyk made history by becoming the third male boxer to go undisputed in two weight classes.
Seven months later, the long-awaited rematch took place. Early in the fight, Fury showed an adjustment as he moved forward and was the aggressor. However, as the fight progressed, the southpaw Usyk was able to regain the role of aggressor as he moved forward and consistently landed hard left shots.
When the bout ended, Oleksandr Usyk was once again declared the winner, as all three judges scored the bout 116-112 in favor of Usyk. With the victory, Usyk defeated Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury twice.
With the four total victories against Joshua and Fury, and the victory over Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk has proven himself to be the current number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the best heavyweight of this era.
With the combination of his boxing skills, footwork, timing, punch placement and ring intelligence, unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) is a matchup nightmare.
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk, 37, has officially conquered the heavyweight division and now the question is: will he stay at heavyweight or return to the cruiserweight division?
