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It was the shot heard ’round the Boxing world on Saturday night as British heavyweight Tyson Fury pulled off what nearly everyone outside of his camp thought was impossible – defeating longtime undisputed champion Wladimir Klitschko at Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf.
It was easily the biggest upset of a dominant reigning champion by a British fighter in the 10 years since Ricky Hatton shocked Kostya Tszyu in 2005.
Fury managed to defeat Klitschko on all three cards by margins of 116-111, 115-112 and 115-112, despite losing a point in the 11th round for rabbit-punching.
The Manchester area man pulled this off by using a very awkward approach, featuring constant footwork and jerky head movement, never allowing the champion to get set to punch.
And that was crucial because Fury had managed to anger Klitschko so thoroughly during the pre-fight media build up to this one via a series of stunts, shenanigans and thoroughly insulting comments that big Wlad was only looking to put Fury’s lights out with one big punch.
And that opportunity didn’t come until the 12th and final round when Klitschko clipped the challenger with a good right hand that wobbled but it didn’t fell the English giant.
Fury looked amateurish at times, particularly when he threw his right hand as it was a wide roundhouse shot that only connected solidly once, but that was important as it shook Klitschko, and his jabs weren’t much better but they did manage to help put the champion off the task.
Overall, Fury put together a solid performance in that it achieved what no one else had ever been able to do and that is defeat Klitschko on points. This was even more of a remarkable achievement as it came on German soil but Klitschko threw so few punches that no other option was available to the judges.
Fury stays undefeated at 25-0 (18) and now possesses the WBA, IBF and WBO titles but will have probably have to prove that he can do it all over again as there reportedly is a rematch clause should Klitschko, 64-4 (53), who loses for the first time in 11 years, decide to take up that option.
Unless Wladimir chooses to retire at age 39, not wanting to risk another loss on his record. It shall be interesting to see what happens with the rematch of this one.
It was a far more competitive situation at Centre Videotron in Quebec City, Canada on Saturday but another Englishman, James DeGale, 22-1 (14), retained his INF super middle belt against a former owner of that title, local hero Lucian Bute, 32-3 (25), in a battle of lefties.
It was definitely Bute’s most spirited effort since losing his title to Carl Froch three years ago but the 35 year old Montreal man was outpointed in the early rounds by DeGale, who withstood numerous rallies by the challenger, hanging on to take a 116-112, 117-111, 117-111 unanimous decision.
At 29 years of age, DeGale is at the peak of his powers and could be looking at a series of big domestic defenses against Callum Smith, Martin Murray and the only fighter to have defeated him in the profession ranks, bitter rival George Groves.
The undercard in Quebec saw a very good and very important clash at light heavyweight as top Canadian based contender Eleider Alvarez, 19-0 (10), was pushed hard by Issac Chilemba, 24-3-2 (10), but came out with a majority decision victory on the cards, 114-114, 115-113 and a rather wide 118-110.
This sets up a big domestic contest as Alvarez becomes the mandatory challenger for WBA champion Adonis Stevenson, who must turn back Alvarez if he is to realize a potential unification clash with WBC, IBF and WBO king Sergey Kovalev in 2016.
At The Bomb Factory in the American city of Houston, IBF super welter champ Jermall Charlo, 23-0 (18), retained his belt for the first time, stopping overmatched challenger Wilky Campfort, 21-2 (12), at 1:16 of the fourth round.
Ideally Charlo will have to face a more substantial opponent in his next defense but a quick look at the IBF rankings indicated that his twin brother Jermell is the highest ranked challenger, a bout that will not occur, so perhaps until Jermall gets a unification opportunity, he won’t be pressed in the ring.
