The Briton was confident that he controlled the course of the fight with the Ukrainian
Former WBC heavyweight title holder Tyson Fury said that he does not plan big changes in his own style in a potential rematch with the absolute world champion Alexander Usik.
“I don’t know what will happen. In a potential rematch, I think I would just do the same thing, but a little more. I would have made my defense tighter, more focused, and not messed around too much because I was having fun there.”
“I played. I hit him in the body, uppercutting him to the head. I thought I was dictating the terms of the battle. I hit him with body blows from both sides.”
On the night of May 19, Usik inflicted the first defeat of Fury in his professional career 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.
