December 21, 2024 • 5 mins
Oleksandr Usyk won his heavyweight championship rematch against Tyson Fury by unanimous decision to stay unbeaten across two divisions and cement his place among the greats.
NZ Herald combat sports expert Christopher Reive tells Jason Pine Usyk was the favourite going into the rematch.
The fight went the distance, with all 12 rounds being played and Reive says Usyk was never in danger of being knocked out.
"Fury wasn't stringing enough combinations together. He was looking for one shot at a time."
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from newstalk edb.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Alexander Usik has defeated Tyson Fury by unanimous decision in
the Home of Boxing, Saudi Arabia to remain the undisputed
heavyweight boxing champion of the world. The judges all scored
the contest one sixteen, one twelve in favor of the
Ukrainian multi talented multi media journalist with the New Zealand Herald,
Christopher Reeve was live blogging the fight.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
He joins, us now, do you agree with the judges?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
I do to the fact that I also scored it
one sixteen one twelve to Usak, So that's always a
good confidence booster when you're score in a fight that
the judges had it as well. Who was favorite? Was
Usik favorite going in? Yeah, Usik was the favorite going in.
I think largely because of the fact he beat Fury
last time and had him in trouble at times. A
(00:58):
lot of people kind of saw that, you know, he's
a very very good fighter and could give Fury a
lot of troubles. So I think there were a lot
of backers for usk to win.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
This on so it went, it went the distance. When
the twelve rounds, did it ever look as though Tyson
Fury was ahead in the fight, or conversely, that he
might knock Usik out.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
I don't think Usik was ever in trouble of being
knocked out. Fury wasn't really stringing enough combinations together. He
was sort of looking for one shot at a time.
He did a lot of work with his jab early,
but then as Usik found his way into the fight,
Fury for a lot on the back foot, which is
not ideal for the guy who's coming bigger. He's got
the longer reach, you'd kind of expect him to try
(01:42):
and I guess muscle his way into the fight, but
Usk did well to keep him at bay. I had
Fury up quite early on, but kind of from the
fourth round, Usk started to take over, and then the
middle rounds started doing what they did last time, Usik
just finding the target kind of ot Well. Fury did
come back quite strong, but yeah, Usk just over overwhelmed
(02:03):
him in the end.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Did Usik ever look like knocking fu Re out?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Not quite as much as in the last fight. There
were some times where he was landing some really good
shots and looked like he might have had Fury a
little bit wobbled or a little bit stunned, but he
never really went chasing in those moments. He kind of
just took his time, picked his shots, and yeah, never
never really applied the pressure to I guess capitalize on
(02:28):
some of those moments, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So put this into context for us Chris for those
who don't necessarily understand the alphabet soup that is that
is world boxing titles. So what does this mean for
each of these two?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Now?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
So that just means Usik is now the unif well
still the unified heavyweight champion, not undisputed, because he did
have to give up the IBF title to take this
fight against Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury now again no belts
to his name's. It'll be interesting to see what he
does next, whether he decides to call it a day
(03:03):
or whether he stays around.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
What motivation would he have to stay around?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, I don't know. I can't imagine. Money's a big one.
Usik's got all but one of the titles, and that
title looks like it's going to be locked up for
a little while. Danny Dubois holds it at the moment,
he's meant to be fighting Joseph Parker early next year.
The winner of that fight probably fights Usak next So yeah,
I'm really not sure where Tyson Fury goes from here.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So is that Joseph Parker fight not confirmed?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I'm not one hundred percent sure. The way Daniel Dubois
was talking about it in the ring, he's gone into
the ring and asked Alexander Usik for a fight. To
my understanding, it's confirmed. Okay, who knows in boxing? No,
that's really things to happen, that's right. I mean, we'd
like to see Joe back out there. What's his what
what do you predict for him? And you know in
(03:54):
the remainder of his boxing career, Well, Joseph's still quite young,
so it's quite exciting to see just how he's managed
to build his way back into this position he's at now.
He's bought, He's fought two really tough opponents in his
last ones. Daniel Dubois is another kind of heavy puncher
that is gonna test Joe's chin at times. And yeah,
(04:17):
I think Joe's still got plenty in the tank and
I'm really looking forward to that fight against Daniel Dubois.
It should be a really, really interesting one.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And just back to Usik. He's kind of a good fighter,
isn't He's got a good record, He's.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Up there with the best twenty three and oh is
a pro. Now he's an Olympic gold medalist, undisputed cruiserweight champion,
undisputed heavyweight champion. I mean, he's really one of the greats.
Thanks for stopping in and giving us the analysis, Chris.
I know you've been busy blogging away.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You've probably got analysis to right now, so thanks for
fitting us into your busy Sunday afternoon schedule.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Mate, anytime, Mate, anytime.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Christopher Reeve read him at injed Herald dot co dot
zed or a combat sports expert, also an expert on
a number of things, sailing, cricket, rugby, you name it.
But you can read his latest analysis of this fight
at injed Herald dot co dot nz. Just to recap
that for you, Alexander Usik has beaten Tyson Fury by
unanimous decision to remain the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of
(05:15):
the world. The judges all scored the contest one sixteen won,
twelve in his favor. Both fighters traded blows throughout the fight,
but neither was able to drop the other.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It went the distance and Usik the winner by unanimous decision.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Fine
from newstalk edb.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Alexander Usik has defeated Tyson Fury by unanimous decision in
the Home of Boxing, Saudi Arabia to remain the undisputed
heavyweight boxing champion of the world. The judges all scored
the contest one sixteen, one twelve in favor of the
Ukrainian multi talented multi media journalist with the New Zealand Herald,
Christopher Reeve was live blogging the fight.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
He joins, us now, do you agree with the judges?
Speaker 4 (00:37):
I do to the fact that I also scored it
one sixteen one twelve to Usak, So that's always a
good confidence booster when you're score in a fight that
the judges had it as well. Who was favorite? Was
Usik favorite going in? Yeah, Usik was the favorite going in.
I think largely because of the fact he beat Fury
last time and had him in trouble at times. A
(00:58):
lot of people kind of saw that, you know, he's
a very very good fighter and could give Fury a
lot of troubles. So I think there were a lot
of backers for usk to win.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
This on so it went, it went the distance. When
the twelve rounds, did it ever look as though Tyson
Fury was ahead in the fight, or conversely, that he
might knock Usik out.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
I don't think Usik was ever in trouble of being
knocked out. Fury wasn't really stringing enough combinations together. He
was sort of looking for one shot at a time.
He did a lot of work with his jab early,
but then as Usik found his way into the fight,
Fury for a lot on the back foot, which is
not ideal for the guy who's coming bigger. He's got
the longer reach, you'd kind of expect him to try
(01:42):
and I guess muscle his way into the fight, but
Usk did well to keep him at bay. I had
Fury up quite early on, but kind of from the
fourth round, Usk started to take over, and then the
middle rounds started doing what they did last time, Usik
just finding the target kind of ot Well. Fury did
come back quite strong, but yeah, Usk just over overwhelmed
(02:03):
him in the end.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
Did Usik ever look like knocking fu Re out?
Speaker 4 (02:07):
Not quite as much as in the last fight. There
were some times where he was landing some really good
shots and looked like he might have had Fury a
little bit wobbled or a little bit stunned, but he
never really went chasing in those moments. He kind of
just took his time, picked his shots, and yeah, never
never really applied the pressure to I guess capitalize on
(02:28):
some of those moments, all right.
Speaker 2 (02:30):
So put this into context for us Chris for those
who don't necessarily understand the alphabet soup that is that
is world boxing titles. So what does this mean for
each of these two?
Speaker 3 (02:41):
Now?
Speaker 4 (02:42):
So that just means Usik is now the unif well
still the unified heavyweight champion, not undisputed, because he did
have to give up the IBF title to take this
fight against Tyson Fury. Tyson Fury now again no belts
to his name's. It'll be interesting to see what he
does next, whether he decides to call it a day
(03:03):
or whether he stays around.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
What motivation would he have to stay around?
Speaker 4 (03:08):
Yeah, I don't know. I can't imagine. Money's a big one.
Usik's got all but one of the titles, and that
title looks like it's going to be locked up for
a little while. Danny Dubois holds it at the moment,
he's meant to be fighting Joseph Parker early next year.
The winner of that fight probably fights Usak next So yeah,
I'm really not sure where Tyson Fury goes from here.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So is that Joseph Parker fight not confirmed?
Speaker 4 (03:32):
I'm not one hundred percent sure. The way Daniel Dubois
was talking about it in the ring, he's gone into
the ring and asked Alexander Usik for a fight. To
my understanding, it's confirmed. Okay, who knows in boxing? No,
that's really things to happen, that's right. I mean, we'd
like to see Joe back out there. What's his what
what do you predict for him? And you know in
(03:54):
the remainder of his boxing career, Well, Joseph's still quite young,
so it's quite exciting to see just how he's managed
to build his way back into this position he's at now.
He's bought, He's fought two really tough opponents in his
last ones. Daniel Dubois is another kind of heavy puncher
that is gonna test Joe's chin at times. And yeah,
(04:17):
I think Joe's still got plenty in the tank and
I'm really looking forward to that fight against Daniel Dubois.
It should be a really, really interesting one.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
And just back to Usik. He's kind of a good fighter,
isn't He's got a good record, He's.
Speaker 4 (04:30):
Up there with the best twenty three and oh is
a pro. Now he's an Olympic gold medalist, undisputed cruiserweight champion,
undisputed heavyweight champion. I mean, he's really one of the greats.
Thanks for stopping in and giving us the analysis, Chris.
I know you've been busy blogging away.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
You've probably got analysis to right now, so thanks for
fitting us into your busy Sunday afternoon schedule.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Mate, anytime, Mate, anytime.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
Christopher Reeve read him at injed Herald dot co dot
zed or a combat sports expert, also an expert on
a number of things, sailing, cricket, rugby, you name it.
But you can read his latest analysis of this fight
at injed Herald dot co dot nz. Just to recap
that for you, Alexander Usik has beaten Tyson Fury by
unanimous decision to remain the undisputed heavyweight boxing champion of
(05:15):
the world. The judges all scored the contest one sixteen won,
twelve in his favor. Both fighters traded blows throughout the fight,
but neither was able to drop the other.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It went the distance and Usik the winner by unanimous decision.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio
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