Oleksandr Usyk cemented his status as the world’s best heavyweight after a second victory against Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.
Usyk produced another masterful display to win via unanimous decision, with all three judges scoring the fight 116-112 in favour of the Ukrainian.
Fury, who has now suffered back-to-back defeats to Usyk, describing the judges’ scorecards as a ‘Christmas gift’.
Fury said: ‘I felt I won the both fights. I know what I had to do – knock him out to get a decision. But do you know what, it’s boxing.
‘There’s no doubt in my mind I won the fight.’
The full scorecards were revealed after the fight and although all three judges agreed on a comfortable victory for Usyk, they only scored the contest the same for seven of the 12 rounds.
In terms of the fight stats, Usyk landed 179 punches to Fury’s 144 and was significantly more accurate.
Usyk registered a punch accuracy of 42.3 per cent, while Fury’s sat at 28.3%.
In round nine where Usyk won 10-9 on two of the judges’ scorecards, Fury landed just one of his 18 jabs thrown.
‘How did Tyson only get four rounds in this fight? It’s impossible,’ Fury’s promoter, Frank Warren, told DAZN after the fight.
‘Only four rounds. Each of them gave him four rounds, four different rounds. I’m not saying this because I’m biased, but everyone along the front there all thought it went the same way.
‘It’s nuts. It’s nuts, I don’t get it. I’m really disappointed with that. I thought he was in control of the fight and boxed extremely well. Usyk was on the back foot for most of the fight, but it is what it is.’
Usyk’s promoter, Alex Krassyuk, told BBC Radio 5 Live: ‘I am extremely proud.
‘It was an encyclopedia of boxing and he showed today how boxing is constructed from the bottom to the top. Incredible performance. There is no time to walk away, he is happy to do this.
‘I had to Fury three or four rounds. The judges gave him four. That’s the fairest score it could be.’
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