UNDISPUTED heavyweight champion of the world Oleksandr Usyk will take some time to decompress and relax after defeating Tyson Fury in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian won his rematch by unanimous decision after all three judges ruled the fight 116-112 in his favour, a result which Fury and his team dispute.
Having fought Fury twice in 2024, in May and December, the Simferopol native is eager to spend time with his four children and wife Yekaterina.
“The next step? I’m going to rest because [of] my little daughter Maria,” said Usyk.
“My wife sent me a video message, my little daughter saying ‘daddy’. [She is] 10 and a half months. I have looked at my little daughter for two months maximum, maybe one and a half.
Usyk vs. Fury 2 was another CLASSIC! 🔥#Usyk2Fury | #RiyadhSeason | @Turki_alalshikh pic.twitter.com/kfWSLHGS4k
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) December 22, 2024
“Now, I’m going to go back home, rest, [turn] off my phone and close [my] house. Sit like this (he stretched out his arms across the back of his chair) and look at the sky and look at how the tree is growing.”
This rematch had been drawn up ever since the first match between these two fighters ended in May, with Fury very eager to earn the title of undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.
Speaking about the result of the fight Fury said: " still think I won that fight, I think I got Larry Holmes’d here."
The ‘Gypsy King’ was referring to a fight between Muhammad Ali and Larry Holmes in 1980, where many believed that Holmes dominated ‘The Greatest’ despite the fight being awarded to Ali.
“I thought I’d won both fights [against Usyk], but then again I’ve gone home with two losses on my record now so there’s not much I can do about it, just fight my heart out and do the best that I can,” said Fury.
“I’ll always believe I won that fight until the day I die.”
Later in the press conference, he said: “I felt a little Christmas spirit in there and I think he [Usyk] was given a little Christmas gift.”
During his post-fight press conference, Fury made a jab that the judges “might as well have been” Ukrainian as Fury’s promotor, Frank Warren, voiced his confusion at two of the judges' decision to score Fury with one round of the last seven and the other judge to award all seven of those rounds to Usyk.
After a lot of trash talk in the build-up despite the bitterness on Fury’s side for the result, there was a moment of kindness between the two fighters after the bell rung, with Fury seen kissing the head of Usyk as he knelt in the ring.
“Tyson is my best friend,” said Usyk, who has now fought with the Morecombe-based Fury twice in title bouts in 2024.
“I have got to respect this guy because I think he is a very tough opponent, Fury makes me strong.
“Tyson is a great opponent, he’s a big man, he’s a tough boxer and a good man. Tyson [does] a lot of talking, yeah? It’s just show, I very [much] respect Tyson Fury.”
When asked by a journalist about his future plans, Fury said: “I’m going to go home and have a good Christmas, I’ve been away 12 weeks, put a lot of work in for this fight and I’m going to go home now and enjoy it.”
One reporter spoke of an AI experiment that was tested during the fight, in which a computer scored the fight, with the result coming out as 118-112 in Usyk’s favour, Fury had a very candid assessment of the AI experiment.
“Here’s one for you, F*** all computers, keep the humans going, more jobs for humans, less jobs for computers, and f*** electric cars too while we’re at it,” said the former heavyweight champion.
