Saturday marked another relatively narrow win for Oleksandr Usyk over Tyson Fury at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia – perhaps even tighter than Usyk’s first win over Fury.
As seems to be the case with nearly every significant fight result these days that doesn’t end in an explosive, senses-separating knockout, there was dissent in the aftermath.
“I couldn’t split them and I thought the fight was a draw,” said Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn postfight. “I really struggled to split them. It was more of a chess match tonight.”
Although the action was back and forth, and created several difficult-to-score swing rounds, the judges on Saturday were in agreement about the scores – and not exactly by a tiny margin – at 116-112 across the board.
If anything, Usyk’s ability to back up his split decision win from May with a close but more convincing win – at least by most estimates, including all three judges on Saturday – and methodically break down the less-fit Fury in the later rounds of the rematch should be evidence enough.
“Usyk did dominate more in the second half of the fight, like we said he would,” Hearn said. “I thought it was very close, but consistency from the judges is good to see. But I found it very hard to pick a winner.”
Reasonable minds can disagree, but neither is anyone crying “robbery” after Saturday’s headliner. Usyk, despite giving away 55lbs and 6ins, executed his game plan and appeared to most eyes to do at least slightly more to win than Fury over 12 rounds for the second fight in a row. Enough should be enough.
Fury may have made a hasty exit from the ring after the fight, displeased by the result. Why wouldn’t he be disappointed? Yet feeling wronged doesn’t make a person right. What the future holds for Usyk now is uncertain, but it certainly doesn’t require a trilogy fight with Fury to bring closure to their rivalry.
Usyk handled that much Saturday night.
“I’m not the judges, I’m an athlete,” Usyk said afterwards. “It’s not my decision. I win. Thank you, God.”Jason Langendorf is the former Boxing Editor of ESPN.com, was a contributor to Ringside Seat and the Queensberry Rules, and has written about boxing for Vice, The Guardian, Chicago Sun-Times and other publications. A member of the Boxing Writers Association of America, he can be found at and followed on and .