{"id":36796,"date":"2024-05-19T16:34:46","date_gmt":"2024-05-19T11:34:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/?p=36796"},"modified":"2024-05-19T16:34:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T11:34:46","slug":"ukrainian-usyk-beats-fury-by-split-decision-to-become-undisputed-heavyweight-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/sports\/ukrainian-usyk-beats-fury-by-split-decision-to-become-undisputed-heavyweight-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukrainian Usyk beats Fury by split decision to become undisputed heavyweight champion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">RIYADH: <\/span>Ukrainian professional boxer Oleksandr Usyk scored a razor-thin split decision over Tyson Fury to become undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion in a thrilling contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh in the early hours of Sunday morning.<\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Usyk knocked down his hulking opponent in the ninth round and eventually earned a narrow win on two scorecards. The 37-year-old Ukrainian is the first heavyweight to hold every <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">major<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"> title belt since Lennox Lewis in April 2000.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Usyk (22-0) added Fury\u2019s WBC title to his own WBA, IBF, <\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0WBO belts with a spectacular late-round rally in a back-and-forth matchup between two previously unbeaten champions from\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">a strong<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0era of heavyweight boxing. Two judges favored Usyk, 115-112 and 114-113, while the third gave it to Fury, 114-113.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Usyk got the better of the opening rounds before Fury hit his stride in the fourth, engaging in some showmanship as he started to catch Usyk with vicious body shots<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">, but the<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0Ukrainian battled back with several stinging reminders of his power.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Usyk turned the tide in the eighth round\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">and<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0few would have been surprised had the referee stopped the fight in the ninth as the Ukrainian&#8217;s powerful punches to the head left Fury reeling.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/sports\/pakistan-clinches-turkmenistan-in-final-of-central-asian-volleyball-championship\/\">Pakistan outplay Turkmenistan to clinch Central Asian Volleyball Championship title<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The previously undefeated Briton managed to hang on until the bell\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">but<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">he<\/span><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0struggled through the final three rounds of the fight as Usyk chased him down to edge him out on the judges&#8217; scorecards.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">&#8220;Thank you so much. &#8230; It&#8217;s a big opportunity for me, for my family, for my country. &#8230; It&#8217;s a great time, it&#8217;s a great day,&#8221; a tearful Usyk said in a post-fight interview in the ring, adding that he would grant Fury an immediate rematch.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">In the co-main event, Australia&#8217;s Jai Opetaia won a unanimous decision over Mairis Briedis of Latvia to win the vacant IBF cruiserweight title, and Ireland&#8217;s Anthony Cacace scored a TKO win over Joe Cordina of Wales to retain his IBO super-featherweight title and claim the IBF belt.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>RIYADH: Ukrainian professional boxer Oleksandr Usyk scored a razor-thin split decision over Tyson Fury to become undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion in a thrilling contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh in the early hours of Sunday morning. Usyk knocked down his hulking opponent in the ninth round and eventually earned a narrow win on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":36797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[17164,17166,17165],"class_list":["post-36796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-oleksandr-usyk","tag-undisputed-heavyweight-champion","tag-usyk-beats-fury"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyausaf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}