.@Tyson_Fury
makes his way to the ring to none other than Mariah Carey x Biggie
Smalls š #Usyk2Fury
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December 21, 2024
After 24 rounds shared in the ring, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury
will forever be linked for their two wars together in the squared
circle, but the history books will remember one man as the victor
of their storied rivalry.
Usyk put his stamp on the feud Saturday night with a masterful
12-round performance that resulted in him retaining his WBA, WBO,
WBC and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles by unanimous decision
(116-112, 116-112, 116-112) in the DAZN main event at Freedom Arena
in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) had to storm back in their first fight after a
slow start, but that was not the case in the rematch. The defending
champ took the fight to the 281-pound challenger and backed up the
larger man with a stellar right hand. Usykās up-and-down erratic
head movement bothered the slick boxer-puncher, and the former
Ukrainian gold medalist was in control of the pace for the
evening.
Fury (34-2-1) fought like a true champion, but it was not enough to
get his hand raised, even as he presented danger for the entirety
of the 36-minute encounter. Fury sniped Usyk with jabs and
uppercuts, using his weight to push the champion around when he
could. Unfortunately, at 36, the Manchester, England, nativeās legs
simply couldnāt keep up with the former cruiserweight titleholderās
pace and footwork.
With the win, Usyk retains three of four major belts in boxing, and
has his sights set on a unification match with Londonās Daniel
Dubois, the owner of the remaining IBF strap. Usyk previously
defeated Dubois in 2023, and would be instilled as a large favorite
in their rematch. Dubois stormed the ring after Usykās victory,
demanding they fight again. Usyk calmly remarked to the Saudi
Arabian showrunners that they should put it together.
The undercard produced several thrilling matchups. In the co-main
event, Moses Itauma (21-0, 11 KOs) destroyed Demsey McKean (22-2)
in the first round of their heavyweight clash. Prior to that,
Serhii Bohachuk stopped Ishmael Davis after six rounds to become
the mandatory challenger for the WBC 154-pound belt; undefeated
heavyweight Johnny Fisher survived a fifth-round knockdown to edge
out David Allen by split decision (95-94, 93-96, 95-94); Scottish
featherweight Lee McGregor (15-1-1) outworked Englandās Isaac Lowe
in a 10-round bout by unanimous decision (96-92, 97-91, 97-91);
former Olympian Peter McGrail (11-1) handed Rhys Edwards (16-1) his
first career defeat by a razor-thin unanimous decision (96-95,
96-94, 96-94); unbeaten Ukrainian light heavyweight prospect Daniel
Lapin cruised to his 11th career win against Dylan Colin (100-90,
99-91, 99-91); heavyweight Andrii Novytskyi (15-0) survived his
toughest test in Edgar Ramirez in a fight where the scorecards
didnāt tell the entire story (100-90, 100-90, 98-92); 20-year-old
super featherweight Mohammed Alakel started the night off by
improving to 2-0 courtesy of a lopsided decision (60-53, 60-53,
60-53) over Joshua Ocampo (8-34-1).