By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America – respected and honorable contributor to www.dmboxing.com since 2008
Oleksandr Usyk may be the best heavyweight of his generation, and he proved this as he defeated Tyson Fury for a second time in another tightly contested fight. Fury is his rival and the one who has been a leading heavyweight for the past decade since he defeated Wladmir Klitschko to take his title. Usyk was the older fighter and smaller fighter, who came up from the cruiserweight division before becoming the best heavyweight in the world and faced a big challenge against the bigger Fury. Since the Klitschko brothers left the heavyweight scene after dominating it from 2004 to 2015, fellow Ukrainian Usyk has added to Ukraine’s list of great heavyweights in this century.
Tyson Fury has had a history of adopting new tactics in a rematch as he showed in the Wilder trilogy. In his first fight, he boxed and nearly lost the fight but for a gutsy performance of managing to survive a brutal knockdown in round 12. In the rematch, he became the aggressor and used his height and weight to overpower Wilder. In their final match, Fury combined power and boxing skills to wear out Wilder and stopped him.
In their first fight, Fury landed 157 punches in a close fight with a connect rate of 32 percent whereas Usyk was the more accurate boxer landing 170 punches for 41 percent connect rate. Usyk wore Fury out in the later rounds. In the rematch, Usyk connected on 179 punches to Fury’s 144 punches and connected on a little over 42 percent versus Fury 28 percent. In ten of the rounds, Usyk landed more punches than Fury. And Fury did come in 14 pounds, or as the Brits would say, one stone heavier.
While this does not speak to the overall quality of the punches and many rounds were decided by one or two punches, this shows that Usyk connected more consistently throughout the fight versus Fury.
In the opening rounds, Fury opened up boxing and jabbing, even on occasions switching to southpaw. Usyk in the fourth round nailed Fury with two big left hooks and Fury countered with powerful rights and as time wound down, he unleashed a right upper cut. This round showed the competitive nature of the fight, and this round went Fury but in the previous third round, Usyk began to pressure Fury as he battered Fury to the body.
Halfway through the fight it was a close but as the second half proceeded, Usyk took control of the bout. Over the last five rounds he landed 54 percent of his power shots and overall, he landed more punches than any other Fury opponent. I had it 116-112.
Over the years, Fury has proven to be a good boxer with defensive skills, but Usyk’s boxing skills overcame Fury’s size, boxing skills and power and allowed him to win two closes but no doubt decisions.
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