Alexander called his confrontation with Fury “twelve rounds of great drama”
Absolute world heavyweight champion Alexander Usik commented on the victory over the former WBC title holder Tyson Fury at the press conference after the unification fight.
“No, I wasn’t worried. I do not know why. The point is that I believed that I had won. I did a good job. There was no excitement.”
“Does my team think they stole my ninth-round knockout? I don’t think about it because we have a winner. Okay, maybe. I don’t think about it because we have a victory. Okay, no knockout, no problem. But it was 12 rounds of great drama.”
Let us remember that on the night of May 19, Usik inflicted the first defeat in his professional career on Fury in a fight that took place at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). In the ninth round, Alexander knocked down the “Gypsy King” deeply, and only the referee’s intervention prevented the fight from ending ahead of schedule. As a result, the victory was awarded to the Ukrainian by a split decision: 115-112, 113-114 and 114-113.
As the statistics of the fight show, Fury threw more punches, but Usik hit more often (including with powerful punches) and was much more accurate and effective. This was especially noticeable in the second half of the fight, when the Briton seriously lost. At the same time, Alexander set a record: never before had the “Gypsy King” missed so many blows in one fight (170); the previous record (127) belonged to Otto Wallin.
Usik became the first absolute world heavyweight champion in the era of four belts. In the heavyweight division, the last time Lennox Lewis held absolute status was in 1999, but then three titles were enough for this title.
Alexander is the second boxer in history after Evander Holyfield, who was the absolute world champion in cruiserweight and heavyweight. Also, the Ukrainian boxer became the third (after Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue) in the era of four prestigious titles to become the absolute champion in two weight categories.
It was reported that an agreement had been reached between Usyk and Fury for a re-fight. The Chairman of the General Authority of Entertainment of Saudi Arabia, Turki Al al-Sheikh, stated that the rematch between Alexander and Tyson is scheduled for October 12-13 in Riyadh.
Source: Sportarena
I am Ashley Ortiz and I am a professional journalist working for Athletistic. My specialty is in sports journalism, particularly boxing. I have written articles for some of the most renowned publications on the subject, and my work has been featured across both print and digital media platforms.
