{"id":21411,"date":"2024-12-22T16:59:41","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T16:59:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=21411"},"modified":"2024-12-22T16:59:41","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T16:59:41","slug":"usyk-beats-fury-in-heavyweight-championship-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=21411","title":{"rendered":"Usyk beats Fury in heavyweight championship rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agency Report<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Oleksandr Usyk won his heavyweight championship rematch against Tyson Fury by unanimous decision overnight on Saturday to stay unbeaten across two divisions and cement his place among the greats.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Ukrainian, who forced the pace and repeatedly tagged Fury with his accurate left hook, was awarded the fight 116-112 by all three judges, handing Fury his second straight loss.<\/span><\/p>\n

Usyk\u2019s win takes him to 23-0 with 14 knockouts and extends one of the all-time best careers that includes Olympic gold and undisputed champion at cruiserweight.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s a great fighter, it\u2019s a great performance,\u201d Usyk, 37, said of Fury, who was unbeaten over 35 fights until he lost their four-belt unification bout in May.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUnbelievable 24 rounds for my career.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Only the WBA, WBO and WBC belts were on the line this time after Usyk, focused on the lucrative rematch, relinquished his IBF title rather than face challenger Daniel Dubois.<\/span><\/p>\n

By beating Fury seven months ago, \u201cThe Cat\u201d had already joined the likes of Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis and Mike Tyson as undisputed heavyweight, and the first of the four-belt era.<\/span><\/p>\n

The defeat opens up an uncertain future for the 36-year-old Fury, now 34-2-1, who announced his retirement in 2022 only to change his mind and return to the ring.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought I\u2019ve won both fights, but then again I\u2019ve got two losses on my record now, so there\u2019s not much I can do about it,\u201d said the Briton, sporting a bruised right eye as he appeared before media.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI can just fight me heart out and do the best I can. But I\u2019ll always believe until the day I die that I won that fight.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Fury, wearing a Santa-style red-and-white robe and bushy beard, appeared to Mariah Carey\u2019s \u201cAll I Want For Christmas Is You\u201d, before a determined-looking Usyk strode out in Cossack gear.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 6ft 9ins (206cm) Briton\u2019s jab held Usyk at bay early on and he landed a jarring right in round two. Usyk caught Fury flush with a left as he raised the pace in round three.<\/span><\/p>\n

They went toe-to-toe in a punishing fifth round, with Fury pummelling body shots while Usyk launched a flurry to the head. In the sixth, he stung Fury with a clean shot to the nose.<\/span><\/p>\n

The supremely fit Usyk, renowned for taking charge in the closing rounds, was the aggressor in the seventh, tagging Fury with a hook as the \u201cGypsy King\u201d backed away.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fury regained the initiative in the ninth, wielding his jab and one-two combinations and leaning on the Ukrainian, employing his career-heaviest 281lb (127.4kg) of weight.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was see-saw stuff as they traded blows but Usyk rocked Fury in the 11th with a lightning combination that ended with yet another left hook to the face.<\/span><\/p>\n

An Usyk uppercut to Fury\u2019s chin highlighted a furious final round and there seemed little doubt about the winner as the Ukrainian sank to his knees, arms aloft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Usyk, who briefly served as a soldier after the Russian invasion, then celebrated by holding up a sabre that belonged to Ivan Mazepa, a hero of Ukrainian nationalism who fought against Russian control in the early 1700s.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reports put the prize purse at an increased $190 million with Usyk, as defending champion, expected to receive the bigger share \u2014 a reversal of fortunes from May.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fight sits high in the portfolio of Saudi Arabia\u2019s oil-funded push into sports, which has drawn accusations of \u201csportswashing\u201d its dubious human rights record.<\/span><\/p>\n

After Formula One, the LIV Golf tour, Newcastle United and a swathe of ageing football stars, the conservative kingdom\u2019s strategy confirmed its crowning moment this month when it was awarded football\u2019s 2034 World Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n

AFP<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oleksandr Usyk won his heavyweight championship rematch against Tyson Fury by unanimous decision overnight on Saturday to stay unbeaten across two divisions and cement his place among the greats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21412,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9765,9766,5323,5322],"class_list":["post-21411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-fury","tag-heavyweight-championship","tag-rematch","tag-usyk"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21411"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21411"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21413,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21411\/revisions\/21413"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}