By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Tyson Fury couldn’t believe what the ringside judges ruled in his loss to Oleksandr Usyk during their heavyweight rematch on December 22, 2024, at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
All three ringside judges gave the bout to Usyk, 116-112, to officially end their heavyweight rivalry after completing a 2-0 head-to-head matchup sweep.
With the Uysk corner all smiles and cheers following his title defense, Fury and his camp remained stunned by the decision, claiming that they should’ve won the fight.
In an interview after the loss, the British pug cried foul, admitting that he thought he was up three rounds and was expecting a landslide majority decision win in their rematch.
“What’d you think of the decision. Truthfully, I swear to God, I thought I won it by at least three rounds. I bossed the fight on my front foot,” said Fury to his trainer, Ben Davison.
Fury did a solid job in the early rounds, keeping Usyk on the back foot with his reach advantage but the reigning heavyweight king flipped the switch in the later rounds and dominated the fight in the close range.
Uysk relied on his signature overhand left punch that created the openings, followed by a barrage of right straight-left uppercut combinations.
For seven straight rounds, Uysk showcased his technical fighting style as he avoided careless brawls with wise disengagements.
Every time Fury lured him to a mano-a-mano affair, Usyk remained disciplined and got out of any traps by sticking to his game plan of out-boxing the British pug.
Usyk then put the icing on the cake after capping off the 12th round with six clean body shots and a vicious uppercut, cementing his name as one of the best heavyweights to ever set foot on the canvas.
Fury has now lost two matches in a row, all coming from Usyk, and is yet to gather himself when he walked out the ring and avoided any post-match interviews.
The Gypsy King showed up in the post-fight press conference, and released a bold statement when he said Uysk received a ”Christmas gift from the judges.”
