“I believe I won that fight,” the British boxer said after the fight. “There’s a war in his country and people always support those whose country is at war, so he was given the win. But we will do it again in October.”
The fight for the title of absolute world heavyweight boxing champion, held in the Saudi capital Riyadh, went the full distance and ended with the victory of the Ukrainian boxer by separate judges’ decision with the score 115-112, 114-113 and 113-114.
Oleksandr Usik will be absolute champion for just two weeks as the IBF stripped him of his title and an immediate rematch with Tyson Fury was a contractual requirement for the fight.
The Ukrainian currently holds the IBF, WBA, WBO and WBC championship belts, as well as a minor IBO heavyweight title.
Recall that Alexander Usik, who won gold at the 2012 London Olympics, held the title of absolute world champion in boxing in the first heavyweight category from 2018 to 2019.