.@Tyson_Fury
Heading to the ring with none other than Mariah Carey x Biggie Smalls 🎅#Usyk2Fury
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December 21, 2024
After 24 rounds in the ring, Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury will forever be linked for the two fights they fought together in the squared circle, but the history books will have no place in their storied rivalry. One man will be remembered as the winner.
Usyk settled the feud Saturday night with a stunning 12-round performance that resulted in the WBA, WBO, WBC, and Ring Magazine heavyweight titles via unanimous decision (116-112, 116-112, 116-112) ) was decided to be retained. DAZN Main Event will be held at Freedom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs) had to fight back after a slow start in the first fight, but that wasn’t the case in the rematch. The defending champion took the fight to the 281-pound challenger, backing up the big man with a nice right hand. Usyk’s erratic head movements troubled the skilled boxer-puncher, but the former Ukrainian gold medalist controlled the pace on the night.
Fury (34-2-1) fought like a true champion, but despite posing danger throughout the 36-minute encounter, it wasn’t enough to get his hand raised. Fury targeted Usyk with jabs and uppercuts, using his weight whenever possible to push the champion away. Unfortunately, the 36-year-old Manchester, England native’s legs were unable to keep up with the former cruiserweight titleholder’s pace and footwork.
With this victory, Usyk now holds three of boxing’s four major belts and has set his sights on a unification bout with London’s Daniel Dubois, the holder of the remaining IBF belt. Usyk defeated Dubois in 2023 and will be established as the heavy favorite in the rematch. Dubois stormed into the ring after Usyk’s victory and demanded a rematch. Usyk calmly told the Saudi showrunners that they should “get it together.”
The undercard produced some thrilling matchups. In the co-main event, Moses Itauma (21-0, 11 KOs) defeated Demsey McKean (22-2) in the first round of a heavyweight showdown. Prior to that, Serhiy Bokhachuk stopped Ishmael Davis in six rounds to become the mandatory challenger for the WBC 154-pound belt. Undefeated heavyweight Johnny Fisher survived a five-round knockdown to defeat David Allen by split decision (95-94, 93-96, 95-94). Scottish featherweight Lee McGregor (15-1-1) defeated England’s Isaac Rowe by unanimous decision (96-92, 97-91, 97-91) in a 10-round bout. Former Olympian Peter McGrail (11-1) suffers first career loss to Rhys Edwards (16-1) in a close unanimous decision (96-95, 96-94, 96-94) . Undefeated Ukrainian light heavyweight contender Daniel Lapin earned his 11th career victory over Dylan Collin (100-90, 99-91, 99-91). Heavyweight Andriy Nowitzki (15-0) survived his toughest test yet against Edgar Ramirez in a fight where the scorecards didn’t tell the whole story (100-90, 100-90, 98-92) . 20-year-old super featherweight Mohamed Arakel improved to 2-0 thanks to a lopsided decision (60-53, 60-53, 60-53) over Joshua Ocampo (8-34-1). We got the night started.
