Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury for the second time within a year on Saturday, winning a unanimous decision to hold on to his WBC, WBA and WBO world heavyweight titles.
Usyk defeated Fury in a split decision seven months ago and came back this time to take Saturday’s 12-round fight with all three judges scoring it by a 116-112 margin. The big difference in the fight was Usyk’s ability to land 42% of his punches to only 28% for Fury.
Fury did not speak in the ring following the match but said backstage that he thought he won the fight — again — by three rounds and that he was “Larry Holmes’d.”
The 37-year-old Uysk is now 23-0 in his career, including 2-0 vs. Fury.
Fury is now 34-2-1, with his only two defeats coming at the hands of Uysk.
The question now becomes whether or not Fury will get another chance to beat Uysk in the future, or if he will fight anybody.
Fury has teased the idea of retirement in the past but did not speak on the subject after the fight. His manager, Frank Warren, did however comment that it is “too early” to speculate because it is just after a fight and that emotions are already running high.
Whether he retires or continues to fight, he has had a tremendous career that has seen him hold heavyweight titles and beat an extensive list of top-tier fighters. He has just never had an answer for Uysk.
Then again, nobody has.
Along with his reign as an undisputed heavyweight champion, Uysk has also been an Olympic gold medalist and an undisputed cruiserweight champion throughout his career.