Usyk Dominates Fury In Heavyweight Rematch

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

Ladies and gentlemen, there will be no trilogy.

In front of a wild crowd at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ukrainian heavyweight boxing star Oleksandr Uysk successfully defended his World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC), and World Boxing Organization (WBO) championship belts during a highly-anticipated rematch against Tyson Fury on December 22, 2024.

All of the ringside judges scored the bout 116-112, in favor of the defending champion, and scrapped the possibility of a third and final bout with a 2-0 sweep in their head-to-head title fight matchup.

It was a classic Usyk hitting clinic as the undefeated heavyweight champion took complete control of the fight in the second half, dominating rounds 7 to 11 to wrap up the fight with a convincing unanimous decision win.

However, it was a more stable approach for Fury in the early rounds, punishing Usyk with his reach advantage and sent in barrage of jabs that kept the Ukrainian on the back foot.

Fury also confused Usyk several times with his unpredictable stance switch from orthodox to southpaw that paved the way for several openings in his left guard.

Just when Fury thought he could sustain his level of aggression, Usyk flipped the switch in the fifth round when he landed several big shots using his signature overhand left.

Usyk set up his bread and butter with a jab to the body, and continued to connect more punches with right straight-left uppercut combinations.

After the Round 6 bell rang, things got out of hand for Fury as Usyk started to dictate the tempo of the fight when he negated the Gypsy King’s reach advantage.

To achieve this, Uysk quickly ducked down to avoid the incoming jabs and took the fight in the closed range that began his momentum swing in the rematch.

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.

With a huge win to end 2024, Usyk improved his professional record to 23 wins, 14 knockouts, and no defeats. On the other hand, Fury dropped to 34 wins, 24 knockouts, and two losses, with all of those two at the hands of the Ukrainian pride.