Tyson Fury has sat down and dissected his first career defeat at the hands of Oleksandr Usyk.
The Ukrainian beat Fury to become undisputed heavyweight champion, scoring a knockdown in the ninth round before winning a split decision on the cards.
Speaking on the Furocity YouTube channel, the Morecambe man said he still believes he won the fight.
“I’ve watched the fight back lots of times and still got the same answer, I thought I won the fight … I thought I boxed the head right off him for most of the rounds. He landed a good punch in round 8 and busted my nose and in round 9 he had a 10-8 round so that’s two and I give him round 10, but other than that I didn’t give him any other rounds. I give him 4 rounds in the fight.”
Fury went on to say that the back-and-forth contest in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was ‘too easy’ at times and that was his downfall.
“It was a lot easier than I thought it would be. A lot easier. People say he’s a hard man to hit. I was lighting him up with three and four punch combinations and laughing at him.
My problem was I probably had too much fun, it was probably too easy. At times it was too easy, like I was in there with a local amateur boxer and I was enjoying it too much and messing around and you pay the ultimate price in round 9 where I got a 10-8 round. I got clipped and that’s what happens when you have too much fun.”
Needless to say, a majority of fans on social media didn’t agree. One compared his reaction to the man he shared a thrilling trilogy with, Deontay Wilder, who famously made outlandish excuses.
Tyson Fury said the Usyk fight was easy and it was like fighting a local amateur boxer 😬 pic.twitter.com/D6nK8jcrnd
— Happy Punch (@HappyPunch) June 21, 2024
Another said that Usyk’s team will be happy to hear the assessment with the second fight booked in, whilst many branded the reaction ’embarrassing’ and that it was an exercise in taking a defeat ‘terribly.’
Some did back Fury’s thinking, claiming he did look ‘too comfortable’ in the ring and wouldn’t make the same mistake in the rematch. Fans will find out on December 21.
