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When Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury met on Saturday to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion, expectations were shattered. Fury, the larger and supposedly more powerful man, outboxed Usyk in the first half of the fight. However, Usyk dramatically shifted the fight's momentum with a brutal ninth-round assault, momentarily leaving the “Gypsy King“ stumbling around the ring before crashing to the canvas. In the end, Usyk was crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and the first of the four-belt era. Two of the three judges scored in his favor, with scores of 115-112, 113-114, and 114-113. Fury demonstrated exceptional boxing technique early on, challenging the belief that Usyk's skills would overwhelm him. His effective distance management allowed him to land clean jabs and powerful body shots. Feeling confident, Fury began to taunt Usyk as he controlled the action. However, his tendency to move backward and fight off the ropes or from the corner was questionable, even as he dominated early. Things began to change in Round 7, as Usyk's relentless forward pressure and overhand lefts found success, exploiting Fury's habit of fighting off the back foot. The true turning point came in Round 9 when Usyk landed several clean shots, causing Fury to stumble around the ring. Usyk continued to press with powerful punches until the ropes prevented Fury from falling, prompting a count from the referee. The pivotal moment started with a clean straight left to Fury's jaw, sending him into the ropes. Usyk pursued Fury around the ring as he wobbled on unsteady legs, landing lefts and rights. Fury finally collapsed against the ropes and, as he beat the 10 count, the bell sounded, likely saving him from a knockout. After the knockdown, Usyk never let up, outworking Fury over the second half of the fight. With the win, Usyk joins Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue as the only male fighters to achieve undisputed status across two weight classes in the four-belt era, having previously been undisputed at cruiserweight. Following the first defeat of his storied career, Fury maintained his belief that he won the fight and expressed his intention to activate his contractual right to a rematch. Fury also made a controversial statement, suggesting the judges favored Usyk due to the ongoing conflict surrounding Russia's invasion of Usyk's native Ukraine. “I believe I won that fight,“ Fury said. “I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won a majority of them. I believe it was, what can you do, one of the decisions in boxing. We both put on a great fight, best we could do. And you know, his country is at war, some people are siding with the country at war. Make no mistake, I won that fight in my opinion, and I'll be back. I got a rematch clause.“ Usyk quickly agreed to a rematch. “Yes, of course,“ Usyk said. “If he wants, I'm ready for a rematch.“ Elsewhere on the card, Jai Opetaia regained the cruiserweight title he never lost in the ring against a familiar face. Opetaia battered Mairis Briedis before surviving a late onslaught to capture the IBF title at 200 pounds. The Australian native is undefeated at 25-0 with 19 knockouts on his resume. Additionally, Anthony Cacace pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year by stopping Joe Cordina to claim the IBF super featherweight title. The 35-year-old hurt Cordina early, and Cordina never fully recovered as Cacace poured on the pressure until the fight was stopped. Agit Kabayel earned a future title shot by defeating fellow contender Frank Sanchez. After a stunning knockout over Arslanbek Makhmudov in December, the German repeated his success by taking out the highly touted Cuban prospect in a WBC title eliminator. It might have been the end of the road for former unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev, who was nearly stopped by Robin Safar late and lost a unanimous decision to the rising prospect in the cruiserweight division. Kovalev, 41, had fought only once in the last four years after losing by TKO to Canelo Alvarez in November 2019. Disclaimer: The following rephrased content is based on a fictional boxing event and is intended for illustrative purposes only. Any resemblance to actual events, persons, or factual occurrences is purely coincidental. The descriptions and outcomes detailed herein are created for the purpose of providing an example of sports writing and do not reflect any real-life events or actual sporting contests. Please refer to official sports news sources for accurate and up-to-date information on any actual events involving Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, or any other mentioned athletes.
