RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Oleksandr Usyk scored a razor-thin split decision over Tyson Fury to become undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion in a thrilling contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Usyk, the new undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, broke down in tears but shrugged off concerns that he might have suffered a fractured jaw while defeating Fury in a riveting battle in Riyadh.
After he was taken to a local hospital for a routine MRI scan which cleared him, Usyk returned to the Kingdom Arena where he had beaten Fury on a split decision.
Talking freely, without any apparent pain, Usyk confirmed that he had needed just four stitches to close a small cut above his eye. Immediately after the fight, while still in the ring, Usyk had said, “Thank you so much to my team. It’s a big opportunity for my family, for me, for my country. It’s a great day.”
Dwarfed by his enormous opponent, Usyk had to weather a storm in the middle of the fight but he came roaring back, forcing Fury to take a standing count in the ninth round as he blazed his way to victory.
The 37-year-old Ukrainian is the first boxer to hold all four major heavyweight belts at the same time and the first undisputed champ since the end of Lennox Lewis’ reign in April 2000.
Usyk got the better of the opening rounds before Fury hit his stride in the fourth, engaging in some showmanship as he started to catch Usyk with vicious body shots, but the Ukrainian battled back with several stinging reminders of his power.
Usyk turned the tide in the eighth round and few would have been surprised had the referee stopped the fight in the ninth as the Ukrainian’s powerful punches to the head left Fury reeling.
The previously undefeated Briton managed to hang on until the bell but he struggled through the final three rounds of the fight as Usyk chased him down to edge him out on the judges’ scorecards.
“Thank you so much. … It’s a big opportunity for me, for my family, for my country. It’s a great time, it’s a great day,” a tearful Usyk said in a post-fight interview in the ring, adding that he would grant Fury an immediate rematch.
In the end, he was given the edge by the judges – who scored it 115-112, 113-114, and 114-113 – to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
owever, the Ukrainian is set to be stripped of the IBF title in the coming weeks, with the 37-year-old instead focusing on a contracted rematch with Fury, which is expected to take place around October.
This is because Filip Hrgovic, Usyk’s mandatory challenge for the IBF title, won’t wait for that rematch to take place, meaning the IBF belt will be vacated by Usyk and then up for grabs when the Hrgovic takes on Daniel Dubois in June of this year.
In the co-main event, Australia’s Jai Opetaia won a unanimous decision over Mairis Briedis of Latvia to win the vacant IBF cruiserweight title, and Ireland’s Anthony Cacace scored a TKO win over Joe Cordina of Wales to retain his IBO super-featherweight title and claim the IBF belt.
Earlier, 41-year-old former light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev returned to the ring for only the second time since 2019 with a decision loss to Sweden´s Robin Sirwan Safar.
