On Saturday night, December 21, at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, WBO, WBA, and WBC world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson “The Gypsy King” Fury for the second time and cemented his place as heavyweight champion. The king of the pound, the best heavyweight of this era.
Tyson Fury went into his rematch well prepared, as he was focused on executing his game plan. Fury started the bout with the adjustment he made from the first fight, but despite the adjustment, at the end of the contest, Usyk was once again declared the winner.
Oleksandr Usyk won his first world title in September 2016 when he defeated Krzysztof Glowacki via unanimous decision to win the WBO cruiserweight title. Two years later, Usyk became unified champion when he defeated Mairis Briedis and won the WBC belt.
Usyk would go on to make history by defeating Murat Gassiev and collecting the WBA and IBF world title belts. With this win, Oleksandr Usyk became the first undisputed cruiserweight champion of the four-belt era. Usyk also became the first cruiserweight to go down undisputed since Evander Holyfield did it 30 years ago, in 1988.
While Usyk was dominating the cruiserweight division, a trio of boxers were vying for the position as boxing fans tried to figure out which one of them would become the heavyweight king. Tyson Fury was the boxer, Anthony Joshua was the famous boxer, and Deontay Wilder was known as the knockout artist.
Fury and Wilder would face each other in December 2018, with the entertaining bout ending in a draw. Back in February 2020, Fury won the rematch, and seemed ready to separate himself and become the top heavyweight. However, a year later, a wild card made its official debut in 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 fell short again, with Usyk winning the rematch by split decision.
Usyk went on to fight Daniel Dubois and stopped him in the ninth round. Next on Usyk's agenda was the chance to make history when he stepped into the ring in May 2024 to face WBC world heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.
Usyk was the aggressor as Fury was forced to fight on the back foot. At the conclusion of the 12-round contest, Oleksandr Usyk won via split decision. With his victory over Fury, Oleksandr Usyk made history by becoming the third male boxer to go undisputed in two weight classes.
Seven months later, the long-awaited rematch took place. Early in the fight, Fury showed an adjustment as he pressed forward and became the aggressor. However, as the fight continued, the southpaw Usyk was able to reclaim the role of the aggressor as he pressed forward and consistently landed powerful left-handed shots.
When the match ended, Oleksandr Usyk was declared the winner once again, with all three judges scoring the bout 116-112 in favor of Usyk. With this victory, Usyk defeated Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury twice.
With a total of four wins over Joshua and Fury, and a victory over Daniel Dubois, Oleksandr Usyk has proven that he is the current number one fighter in the world and the best heavyweight of this era.
With his combination of boxing skills, footwork, timing, punch placement, and ring smarts, unified world heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) is a nightmare to compete with.
37-year-old Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk has officially won the heavyweight division, and the question now is: Will he stay at heavyweight or return to the cruiserweight division?
