Story by Raynald Ngwarati
Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk is now the undisputed heavyweight world boxing champion after beating British boxer Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia early on Sunday.
Fury, who has survived many attempts to steal his status as the world’s best, ran out of his nine lives on Sunday as Usyk dominated in the boxing ring.
Only one judge scored in favor of Fury with a score of 114-113, but other judges saw Usyk fit to walk away with the heavyweight honors scoring 115-112 and 114-113 tallies for Usyk.
Usyk now beomes boxing’s first four-belt undisputed heavyweight champion after clinching the WBC belt from Fury, to add to his WBA, WBO and IBF collection.
The 37-year-old remains unbeaten and is the first boxer in almost 25 years to stand tall as the sport’s sole heavyweight world champion.
Since Lennox Lewis in 2000 no heavyweight boxer held all the major gold, but a determined Usyk emulated that feat with a split-decision win over Fury, who was previously undefeated as a professional.
The Ukranian’s joy however will not last long as the rematch is planned for the weekend of 12 October in Riyadh.
This week, Al-Sheikh said that the winner of Fury vs Usyk rematch is most likely to box Anthony Joshua in the first quarter of 2025.
Britain-based Joshua, who is of Nigerian descent, is set to fight at Wembley in September, potentially against the victor of Filip Hrgovic’s bout with Daniel Dubois in June.
