Oleksandr Usyk scored his second victory over Tyson Fury in the space of a year last December, this time more decisively, at least according to the three judges at ringside.
The Ukrainian became undisputed heavyweight champion in May when he first defeated Fury by split decision, a spectacular ninth round in which he had the Brit hurt ultimately being the difference.
Having vacated one belt to accept the rematch clause, Usyk entered the second fight with ‘The Gypsy King’ full of confidence. It showed in his movement and combination punching, earning him a unanimous decision – something Fury and his promoter took serious issue with.
Speaking on the scoring of the fight, former cruiserweight world champion and Usyk foe Tony Bellew told Sporting Talk that, despite having the rematch close initially, multiple rewatches have changed his view.
“I thought Usyk was in complete control from start to finish. It didn’t seem to be going against him in any shape or form. I was watching the event live on the TV, I thought, ‘oh this is a bit close.’ I’ve watched it back three times now, and he’s just decisive in every movement that he does. He out-hustled him, he pressed him, he out-punched him in every round almost. He dominated him.
“[Frank Warren] reviewed the fight and doesn’t think it was a robbery anymore. Common sense, he’s still gonna side with his Tyson Fury, that’s his man, but I’m not biased to any of them. I think both are great fighters and great lads. I’m neutral, you’ve just got to score it how you see it.
“On the night I think I scored it to [Usyk] by two rounds. In hindsight, I think it’s more like three or four. That’s no disrespect to Tyson Fury, he’s always going to struggle with a fighter like Oleksandr Usyk.”
Fury recently announced his retirement from the sport, perhaps alluding to the ‘robbery’ as he put it being a deciding factor. Still, plenty of people believe he will fight on.
