On Saturday night, December 21, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, undefeated WBO, WBA, WBC, World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury for a second time and his place as the pound-for -pound king, and the best heavyweight of this era.
Tyson Fury came into the rematch well prepared as he was focused on executing his game plan. Fury started the fight with an adjustment he made from the first fight, but despite the adjustment, Usyk was again declared the winner at the end of the match.
Oleksandr Usyk won his first world title in September 2016 when he defeated Krzysztof Glowacki by unanimous decision to win the WBO cruiserweight title. Two years later, Usyk became a unified champion when he beat Mairis Briedis and won the WBC belt.
Usyk would go on to make history by defeating Murat Gassiev and collect the WBA and IBF world title belts. With the victory, Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era. Usyk also became the first cruiserweight to go uncontested since Evander Holyfield did it 30 years earlier, back in 1988.
While Usyk dominated the cruiserweight division, a trio of boxers jockeyed for position as boxing fans tried to figure out which one would become king of the heavyweights. Tyson Fury was the boxer, Anthony Joshua was the popular boxer-puncher, and Deontay Wilder was known as the knockout artist.
Fury and Wilder were set to face each other in December 2018 as the entertaining fight ended in a split decision draw. In February 2020, Fury won the rematch, and it appeared that he was ready to separate himself and become the top heavyweight. A year later, however, a wild card made its formal introduction to the division.
On September 25, 2021, Oleksandr Usyk made a statement when he defeated the face of the heavyweight division, Anthony Joshua, by unanimous decision and won the WBA, IBF and WBO titles. Joshua was better prepared for the second fight, but he fell short again as Usyk won the rematch by split decision.
Usyk went on to fight Daniel Dubois, and he stopped him in the 9th round. Next on Usyk’s agenda was the chance to make history when he stepped into the ring in May 2024 to face undefeated WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Usyk was the aggressor as he forced Fury to fight off the back foot. At the end of the 12-round contest, Oleksandr Usyk won by split decision. With the win over Fury, Oleksandr Usyk made history by becoming the third male boxer to remain uncontested in two weight classes.
Seven months later, the highly anticipated rematch took place. Early in the fight, Fury showed an adjustment as he pushed forward and was the aggressor. However, as the fight wore on, the southpaw Usyk was able to reclaim the role of the aggressor as he pressed forward and consistently landed hard left shots.
When the match ended, Oleksandr Usyk was again declared the winner, as all three judges scored the match 116-112 in favor of Usyk. With the win, Usyk beat both Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury twice.
With the four total wins against Joshua and Fury, and the win over Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk has proven himself as the current number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world and the best heavyweight of this era.
Combining his boxing skills, footwork, timing, punch placement and ring intelligence, unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) is a matchup nightmare.
37-year-old Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk has officially conquered the heavyweight division, and now the question is, will he stay at heavyweight or make a return to the cruiserweight division?
