By Tom Donelson (BWAA) Member Boxing Writers Association of America

Tyson Fury faced off Oleksandr Usyk in a battle of undefeated fighters for the Heavyweight championship of the world.  Fury has proven to be a unique fighter, a big fighter who could box and punch and Usyk is a two division champion, former cruiserweight champions before he took the Heavyweight title when he defeated Anthony Joshua and Fury high point as a fighter was his trilogy with Wilder in which he survived a two knockdown to get a draw in their first fight and then winning the next two with stoppage.  The third fight of their trilogy was a brutal fight in which both men hit the canvas. 

The question that remains is what Fury or Usyk we will see. In his last fight, Fury barely escaped with a split decision over Francis Ngannou in Ngannou’s first boxing match after a great career in the MMA. Usyk won in a knockdown over the Daniel Dubois but before that final stoppage, he went down with a body shot deemed a low blow.   Usyk came in this fight as the smaller fighter and Fury had a higher knockout percentage. If one was a betting person, Fury was more likely to knock out Usyk than the reversed.    If Fury, who defeated Wilder in their last two fights, Fury would win or so I thought..  If the Fury that showed up in Ngannou’s fight then Usyk can win by decision, but I be honest, Fury came into shape and was lighter than his fight with Ngannou.  . 

In reviewing data before the fight, Usyk used his jab 54% during his fights, whereas Fury throws his power shots 56%. The average Heavyweight throw 44 punches per round and Fury is close to the average with 44.8  average punches whereas Usyk threw nearly 50 punches per round. Both men came into this fight with a reputation of being good defensively as Fury only allowed 6 punches to be connected against and Opponents only landed 19 percent against Usyk.

The opening round was close as Usyk landed lefts to the body, Fury jabbing and keeping distance.  Fury landed 9 punches while throwing 37 punches while Usyk landed 8 of 18 so Usyk was more accurate, close round I gave it Usyk, but others gave it to Fury.

In the second round, Usyk landed overhand left to start round with body shots, he looks aggressive whereas Fury is jabbing.  Fury landed a right to the body, but Usyk landed body shots.  The last seconds of the round say a Usyk combo landed but Fury landed an upper cut to the body. Usyk answered with body shots and Fury ends the round with an upper cut.  I had the round for Usyk, 20-18.  According to CompuBox, Usyk landed 50 percent of his power shots as he landed 14 power shots.

Usyk opened the third with body shots, but Fury pivoted with a nice right.  Usyk using head movement trying to avoid Fury’s jabs, but Fury landed solid jabs.  Usyk went to the body, to tire the bigger Fury as the round ended.  Again, another close round as Fury avoided being cornered but Usyk is not letting Fury circle without pressuring him.  Fury also landed his combinations.  I had the round for Usyk and had  Usyk up 30-27.   The round was close and could have gone for Fury.

Fury landed body shots and more active in the fourth round as Usyk looked for a combination but missed with a straight left.  Usyk landed a nice lead left and Fury nails with an upper cut that has Usyk off balance Fury landed body shots and forced Usyk to cover up.  Usyk closed the distance but got nailed from the long upper cut.  Fury did a little clowning, but Usyk kept his cool. Fury won this round and had it 39-37 for Usyk.

Fury caught Usyk with a jab as the fifth round opened and Usyk looked to find angles to land his right hook. Fury landed a good right and left hook to the body and Fury pressured Usyk.  Usyk 48-47 but this is close bout so the score could be reversed.

The sixth round began with Usyk back to pressure tactic and Fury landed four punch combinations and then tied up his opponent.  Fury takes the round and scores the fight 57-57 even as we go into the second half. Fury appeared to be prepared to impose his will on the smaller Usyk. Fury landed 20 punches in the sixth round and had a 58-35 edge in landed punches from the fourth to the sixth round.

Usyk landed 13 punches and more accurately in the seventh round and took the round as he fired a 1-2 downstairs but peppering shots from Fury and tried to muscle Usyk to the ropes.  After seven I have Usyk up by 67-66  but others have Fury in the lead. 

In the eighth round Usyk landed twice as many punches 16 to 8 and 12 of those punches power shots. Usyk landed a three-punch cleanly and followed that to the body.   This is the best Usyk best round of the fight and  I had it 77 to 75 rounds for Usyk but cautioned myself in scoring this is a close fight.   Fury is cut opened.

In the ninth round, Usyk continues his domination of the previous as he landed a right hand downstairs.  Fury landed a body shot and moved forward but he is nailed by a left from Usyk that staggered Fury.  Usyk pursue the advantage and Fury is reeling around the round.  A knockdown is called as referee says the rope help Fury up and this is a 10-8 round 87-83 on my card.

Usyk starts the tenth round on the attack as Fury resilience is put the test.  Usyk punches are getting through Fury defenses and his punches, in particular his left and Usyk left hand near the end of the round forced Fury to reel away the round .  97-92 on my card and I am observing that others have the fight closer, but they all show Usyk in the lead with two rounds left.  In the tenth round, Usyk landed 16 punches with 13 of those shots power shots and he is accurate with those power shots.

The eleventh round saw Usyk landed body shots and walking down Fury, something I didn’t expect as the smaller Usyk was the more dominant fighter at this stage of the fight and Fury ate flush overhead at the bell.  107-101 with one more round. Fury needed a knockout on my card to win.

The twelfth round began some grappling out of the gate. Usyk moved forward jabbing but even in the final round, Fury’s head movement and defensive skills and both fighters are landing go punches as Usyk landed overhead lefts, but Fury countered with hard right.  The final round went to Fury, and I have it 116-111 but there were some swing rounds in the first three rounds that could have gone either way.

And the scorecard was 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk and One judge had it 114-113 for Fury so a split decision of a good fight for the Ukrainian fighter.  Most observers agreed with me that Usyk won but I will admit I had it a wider margin.

This was close fight as Usyk laned 170 punches to Fury 157 punches and he landed more power shots 122-95.  Overall, he was the more accurate puncher as he landed nearly 42 percent of his fight while Fury only landed 32 percent. Overall, Usyk landed more punches in 7 of the rounds.  I had the third round for Usyk, but Fury could easily have won that round and while many of us gave Fury the final round, this round could have gone to Usyk as he landed 18 punches to Fury 10 punches. 

From the fourth round through the sixth round, Fury dominated those bouts as he landed 58 punches to 35 but a close seventh round saw a Usyk domination of the eighth round through the eleventh round where he landed 69 punches to only 40 punches.  The smaller Usyk was able to put the pressure against Fury and while Fury is a good jabber and he did out jab Usyk,  Usyk dominated power shots and as he did with Joshua, he came on strong in the later rounds.

CompuBox data shows how much stronger Usyk was in the second half of the fight as he landed more and cleaner punches.

Usyk also was more effective with his combination punches as he had 42.5 percent efficiency versus Tyson Fury 34.1 percent.   Fury is a slick boxer for a big man, but Usyk is a pretty good defensive fighter as well.   The difference was that Usyk was able to pressure Fury and wear him down.  

What made the Usyk vs Fury interesting is that  both fighters adapted to what was in front of them.  Usyk often used his jab to effectiveness and that made up 56 percent of his punches but in this bout, he chose to pressure Fury, the bigger man and considered the heavier puncher.  Fury boxed and used his jab; in fact, he landed nearly double the jab than Usyk.

This was one of those big fights that actually lived up to the hype and there was plenty of drama inside the ring.  In the sixth round,  a Fury right hand upper cut lifted Usyk’s head and in the ninth round, Fury landed solid shots in the middle of the ring, but Usyk landed some solid left and nearly ended the fight.  It was a close fight in which Fury had the advantage over the first six rounds.  While I had the fight even going into second half, others had Fury in the lead and certainly now that I had a chance to digest the fight, Fury winning the majority of first six rounds was not unreasonable.  Everyone agreed that Usyk was the better fighter over the second half of the fight and CompuBox numbers confirmed that.  Not only Usyk landed more punches, but those punches were also the cleaner and more powerful punches.    Usyk ended up in the hospital to get an MRI for a possible broken jaw and that means the Ukrainian may have fought a portion of the fight with a possible broken jaw and I suspect, it was broken with that right hand upper cut. 

Oleksandr Usyk is now the undisputed Heavyweight and not since Lennox Lewis accomplished this in 1999, have we seen an undisputed heavyweight.  The reality is that Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk are the two best heavyweights and while Fury made his mark when he defeated Wladimir Klitschko in 2015,  Usyk came up from the cruiserweights ranks.  When Usyk defeated Joshua twice, this showed he was the one of the top two heavyweights and the path to this bout began.  And one should not forget that a few years ago, it was Deontay Wilder that everyone said could be the an but after his trilogy with Fury, it was obvious that Fury was the better fighter and Joshua after his victory over Klitschko was supposed to portend a Joshua era in boxing but a loss to Andy Ruiz and two losses to Usyk ended the Joshua era before it truly began. 

Boxing needs this fight if only because it reminded of past glories in which a key heavyweight bout made the front of the sports page.   We remember the bouts, Frazier vs Ali trilogy, Ali vs Foreman, Lewis vs Holyfield and Lewis final bout with Vitali Klitschko.  This was something we haven’t really seen two undefeated heavyweights facing each other.  And in the case of Usyk, you had the addition of a fighter whose country is fighting for their survival which added to fight. 

Fury wants a rematch but make no mistake, as I mentioned in my original column on this fight, Usyk won this fight and stats back it up. He was accurate with his punches, landed more and he landed the more meaningful punches.  We will see what the rematch brings