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Usyk beats Tyson Fury to become 1st undisputed world heavyweight champion in 24 years
Oleksandr Usyk has made history by defeating Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed world heavyweight champion in 24 years. The Ukrainian boxer won by split decision, knocking down Fury in the ninth round and earning a narrow win on two scorecards.
Usyk added Fury’s WBC title to his own WBA, IBF, and WBO belts, becoming the first heavyweight to hold every major title belt since Lennox Lewis in 1999.
The fight took place at Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia, with a lucrative payday for both fighters. Fury will reportedly make over $100 million for the bout.
Usyk, 37, started quickly, but then had to survive while the confident, charismatic Fury dominated the middle rounds. However, Usyk surged in the final rounds, as he has done so many times in his career, taking control with a dominant eighth and nearly stopping Fury in the ninth.
Usyk hurt the 6-foot-9 Fury with a left hand and eventually sent him sprawling into a corner in the final seconds of the round, getting credit for a knockdown right before Fury was saved by the bell.
Fury struggled to mount a consistent attack after nearly getting stopped, and the knockdown turned out to be the decisive factor in the decision.
Two judges favored Usyk, 115-112 and 114-113, while the third gave it to Fury, 114-113. Usyk landed 41% of his 407 punches, while Fury landed just 31.7% of his 496 punches. Usyk threw and landed more power punches, joining the elite club of fighters who have held every major world championship belt at heavyweight.
“It’s a great time. It’s a great day,” said Usyk, who is 6 inches shorter than Fury and weighed in 30 pounds lighter. “Thank you so much to my team… It’s a big opportunity for me, for my family, for my country. Slava Ukraini!”
Fury kissed Usyk on the head after the final bell and said he wants a rematch in October. “I believe I won that fight… I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won the majority of them, and I believe it was one of those what-can-you-do, one of them… decisions in boxing. We both put on a good fight, best we can do. You know, his country is at war, so people are siding with a country at war. But make no mistake, I won that fight, in my opinion, and I’ll be back. I’ve got a rematch clause.”
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Usyk is now the lineal heavyweight champion by beating Fury, who beat Wladimir Klitschko to earn that distinction in 2015. After moving up from cruiserweight, Usyk upset Anthony Joshua to win three title belts in 2021.
He kept them through a rematch and another defense while angling for the ultimate payday of a fight against Fury in Saudi Arabia.
The undercard saw Australia’s Jai Opetaia retain his IBF cruiserweight title with a clear unanimous decision over Mairis Briedis. Ireland’s Anthony Cacace also claimed the IBF super featherweight title when he stopped Joe Cordina in the eighth round.
Earlier, 41-year-old former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev returned to the ring for only the second time since 2019 with a decision loss to Sweden’s Robin Sirwan Safar.
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