Above: Usyk’s stoic entrance was a sharp contrast to Fury’s crowd-pandering. (Photo by Fareed Kotb/Anadolu via Getty Images) 

OLEKSANDR USYK’S VICTORY OVER TYSON FURY WAS A MASTER CLASS WORTHY OF CROWNING THE FIRST UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION IN MORE THAN TWO DECADES

Six rounds into the most significant heavyweight title fight for a quarter of a century, Oleksandr Usyk looked exhausted as he continued to struggle not only with Tyson Fury’s vast advantages in size and weight, but the fact that the then-undefeated WBC champion had established his rhythm and was gaining momentum.

The 35-year-old Fury was performing near the peak of his powers; he was largely dictating both the pace they fought at and the range they were fighting from, and he had also hurt Usyk often with right uppercuts and body punches that eroded the tension at the Kingdom Arena, suggesting not only that Usyk would slow down but that he was at risk of being stopped.

Instead, Usyk, refusing to be intimidated or in any way deterred, did something that proved his greatness in a way that perhaps even his Olympic gold medal or undisputed/Ring Magazine cruiserweight championship simply could not. He broke the rhythm of not only a considerably bigger fighter, but a great one, and in overcoming what appeared a near-hopeless position, he didn’t just win; he won clearly, and in so doing became the first fighter to defeat Fury and the first undisputed heavyweight champion for 25 years.

If the enduring image of their fight in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, is certain to be Fury’s struggles to stay upright in the ninth round when he was at risk of being stopped and was given a standing count by referee Mark Nelson, Fury, like Usyk – and like Fury’s co-promoter Frank Warren recognized, post-fight – will know that its course was changed in the eighth when Usyk landed the left hand that caused Fury’s nose to bleed heavily.

Fury – as he so memorably always has; even following knockdowns by the intimidatingly heavy-handed Deontay Wilder – did recover, but it took him until the 12th round to do so, by which time it was the 37-year-old Usyk who was on course to win. In August 2023, after seeing Usyk stop Daniel Dubois, Warren raged that Dubois (another of his heavyweights) was the victim of an injustice when he was called for a low blow that winded the Ukrainian; it said so much that even he did not join Fury’s attempts to suggest that he had deserved victory. Warren, like the 22,000 others present in Riyadh and the many millions who had watched from afar, knew that he had just witnessed a masterclass. If, like countless others (this writer included) he had expected Fury to win a competitive fight, he (also like this writer) was reflecting on the reality that Fury had not only lost to one of the finest fighters of the modern era, but one of the very best of all time. Fury had entered his highest-profile fight capable of establishing himself among the greatest heavyweights in history; Usyk, a natural cruiserweight, left it having proven himself the finest boxer to consistently compete in the heavyweight division since Muhammad Ali.

The giant Fury was reeling on the edge of defeat in the ninth round. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

Even when during his post-fight press conference Fury spoke of considering his future over committing to a rematch, a rematch seemed as inevitable as the night in 2018 when he drew with Wilder in Los Angeles. So it came as little surprise when, three days later, Warren confirmed that, having suffered his first defeat, Fury intended on exercising the rematch clause in his contract with the intention of fighting again later in 2024.

The greater uncertainty surrounds that potential fight’s undisputed status. The winner of the first undisputed heavyweight championship since Lennox Lewis-Evander Holyfield 2 in 1999 had been expected to be stripped by the mindless IBF so that of the title could be contested on June 1 – also in Riyadh – by the unremarkable Filip Hrgovic and Dubois. Fury and Usyk had delivered a fight that surpassed expectations – thanks in part to Fury’s commitment to boxing Usyk instead of, as expected, forcing a messy fight that could have disrupted the fluid Usyk’s rhythm – and it will be remembered as one of the most entertaining bouts in what will go down as one of the greatest eras in the heavyweight division’s rich history.

Fury had not only lost to one of the finest fighters of the modern era, but one of the very best of all time.

“He’s recuperating and his mood is that he wants the rematch,” Warren said three days later of someone who remains the most enigmatic of individuals; the date currently in play is October 12. “That is already signed for so that will happen.”

In the ring after the fight, Fury suggested that Usyk had benefited from the generosity of ringside judges sympathetic to Ukraine, which is still fighting against Russia’s murderous invasion. He was more gracious in defeat at his post-fight press conference – as, for the sake of balance, he similarly was when the judges deprived him of the victory he deserved in his official draw with Wilder – without committing to fighting Usyk again.

“I thank Oleksandr for the good fight,” he said, with the same charisma and energy that ensured that he remained the showman of the piece. “It was a close fight. I believe – I thought – I did enough, but I’m not a judge. I can’t judge a fight while I’m boxing it.

“If [my cornermen] would have said to me in the last round, ‘You’re down – go out and try to finish him,’ I would have done that, but everyone in the corner believed we were up. All I had to do was keep boxing and doing what I was doing.

“I’ve had this one loss, close fight, with a good man like Usyk, and it was what it was. I tried me best in there.

“I was having a lot of fun, actually. I don’t know if it looked like it, but I was playing around; hands behind me back. I was enjoying it. He’s a good fighter, Oleksandr, and I was catching him and he was catching me and it was a good fight. I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did, getting punched in the face.

“The first six rounds, he maybe nicked one of the rounds, and then going forward I believe I won a few of the last ones as well. Say I won five of the first six – the next six I won a few as well. It was close – I don’t know. I tried me best and it was what it was. I come up short. One of the judges had me winning and the other two didn’t, so I can’t complain.

Fury rallied after a slow start and looked to be on his way to overwhelming Usyk in the middle rounds. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

“Let me tell you – I’m very happy. In my mind, I did the best I could and thought I won the fight. I’m happy with the performance. Both men got paid and both are going home to their lovely wives and children, and that’s what it’s about. We put on a show for the fans. Usyk’s 37; I’m [almost] 36 years old. We’re not young kids anymore. We’re at the end of our careers and putting on brilliant fights, so I’m proud of myself. In that ninth round, I was hurt and I rallied on back. That’s what the GK (Gypsy King) does. I’m just thankful that both got out the ring in one piece.

“I knew he was a good boxer coming into it. He didn’t surprise me. We was prepared. We was fully prepared. We had a long training camp. I believe that I was the best I could have been.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. [In a potential rematch] I think I’d just do a little bit more of the same, keep me defense tighter – a bit more focused – and not too much messing around, because I was having fun in there. I was playing around; I was hitting him to the body; I was hitting uppercuts to the head. I thought I was bossing the fight. I was hitting him both sides to the body.

“[But] I don’t want to think about having [another] boxing fight. I’ve been in camp seven months, don’t forget. Cut; back in camp; back in camp.

“We’ll regroup and we’ll talk about it. If there’s gonna be another fight soon – October or whenever it is – we’ll rock and roll Sally.”

All thoughts of Usyk being undersized or underpowered vanished. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

If the body shots Fury referenced had at one point seemed like they were slowing Usyk down, it was Usyk’s body punching that ultimately had an undeniable effect. Despite his considerable composure and momentum, the technique of Fury – whose stamina has long been recognized as one of his greatest strengths – had started to deteriorate even before he was hurt in the eighth round, and largely because Usyk had by then landed to the body and remained committed to doing so, even when the straightness of Fury’s face made it tempting to conclude that his tactic hadn’t worked. It might even transpire that, unlike in October 2023 against Francis Ngannou, when he was as lacking in focus as he was physically underprepared, what was being witnessed was the first demonstration of Fury’s decline – that the refusal to live anywhere close to as cleanly as Usyk was unfolding in the way that for the first time he simply didn’t have the durability to be as consistent with his technique as he once might have been. He increasingly – not unlike how he did against Otto Wallin in 2019 – started to struggle with Usyk’s southpaw stance, and particularly the potent and accurate overhand left Usyk started to throw during the course of transforming their fight.

“My start [of preparing for Fury] was September 2023,” said Usyk, the winner via scores of 115-112, 114-113 and 113-114 (this writer scored 115-113 in his favor). “Nine months I worked. I missed ‘Happy New Year.’ I missed my son’s birthday. I missed my other son’s birthday. I missed my daughter’s birthday; I missed my daughter’s birth. I missed my family’s holidays. All the time, training, training, training. My focus was only this fight.

“I didn’t worry [about the scorecards] – I don’t know why. I believed that I won.

“I don’t think about [whether the referee denied me a knockout by giving Fury a standing count], because we had a win. Maybe. I don’t think about it, because we have a win. ‘Okay – no knockout, no problem.’ The 12th round was a big drama.”

Despite a tacky post-fight accusation that Usyk had benefited from judges sympathetic to Ukraine, even Fury knew who the better man was that night. (Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

His promoter, Alex Krassyuk, had by then refused to be drawn on whether his latest performance and victory meant that Usyk ought to be considered the world’s finest fighter, pound for pound, regardless of the reality of Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue making their biggest statements as professionals within the previous 12 months.

“The guy has completed everything possible,” Krassyuk said. “He started boxing when he was 15. He became the national Ukrainian champion. Then he became the European amateur champion, world amateur champion, Olympic champion. Then he became the undisputed cruiserweight champion. For a normal athlete, it’s time to stop. But not for Usyk, so he starts his journey at heavyweight.

“He beats Anthony Joshua [in 2021], which is a surprise for everyone. He beats him again in the rematch [in 2022]. What’s next? Undisputed. But it took us almost three years to make it happen. It’s accomplished, and the guy has achieved a result that had never been achieved before.”

(Photo by Richard Pelham/Getty Images)

The Ring doesn’t share Krassyuk’s reluctance to attempt to put Usyk’s achievements into that very context – nor to conclude that his victory and the nature of his performance surpasses anything Crawford and Inoue have already achieved. Usyk is the finest fighter since the era of Floyd Mayweather Jr. As a consequence of his victory over Fury, his reputation and legacy is also more secure than any other active fighter in the world.

Increasingly, a rebuilt reputation and some form of legacy appear to be the priorities of the General Entertainment Authority’s Turki Alalshikh. The individual so many seem in such a hurry to refer to as “His Excellency” – almost certainly because of his willingness to pay them the vast riches not on offer elsewhere – is making a significant contribution to his country’s attempts to sportswash its reputation. The GEA’s investment proved sufficient, after lengthy periods of frustration, to not only get Fury and Usyk to agree to a two-fight series, but Joshua to agree to fight the overall winner next.

The world heavyweight title continues to be the most evocative that exists in any sport and to also have the richest history, and where the memories and narratives of other fights hosted by odious regimes – respectively the Philippines and Zaire, responsible for staging The Thrilla in Manila and The Rumble in the Jungle – have a sense of color due largely to how important those two occasions were to the people of the host countries, color was the very thing Saudi Arabia consistently lacked.

Fury-Usyk offered near-unrivaled historic significance, but the GEA’s flawed attempts to build from the top down meant that, throughout fight week in Riyadh, those willing to be honest readily recognized how much bigger the fight would have been, and how much more appealing would have been the build-up, if it had been taking place in London, Las Vegas or New York.

The most soulless of cities was instead the setting for the overdue fight between the two finest heavyweights of the modern era, ensuring that, until the moments before Usyk started making his way to the ring, the entire fight week lacked the tension and sense of momentum, anticipation or occasion fitting of such an event. Interest in the build-up – repeatedly staged at the tacky BLVD City entertainment center so brightly lit up by neon lights – from locals appeared close to non-existent, regardless of whatever harm the build-up had suffered as a consequence of the two delays the fight had already survived.

So little of that seemed to matter when the fighters were finally standing opposite each other in the ring, nor when their fight became so absorbing that the atmosphere became inconsequential.

Fury and Usyk will fight again in the same location, and the outcome then may even make it necessary for them to have a third and final fight. When the time comes to reflect on one of the potentially great heavyweight rivalries, little will then be devoted to Riyadh – a glorified shopping center with the funding and ambition to deliver the most appealing of fights but without the community or character capable of complementing what unfolds in the ring.