Oleksandr Usyk v Tyson Fury 2, December Twenty First

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I went back and rewatched the fight again last night. When I saw it for the first time, I has Usyk as a clear winner.

I went through it again, and told myself to try and score more rounds “even” when they were tight and I had originally thought one guy or the other shaded it. That way, I thought I could restore it according to the rounds when I thought there was a clear winner.

First things first ….. what a great fight. Both guys were supremely fit and turned up as the best possible version of themselves.
This time around, I had Usyk shading it by two points only, so can see why either side felt they won it.
Usyk’s gumption in just pressurising Fury for nearly every minute of every round. Even when he was clearly stunned and hurt on several occasions. Tricky movement, great technique, raised his intensity the more the fight went on, didn’t get fazed by sneaky fouls. Brilliant

Fury’s utterly phenomenal cardio fitness and his resilience. I can’t see many other heavyweights surviving that BIG Usyk round. Really nimble for such a big man, skilled technique and boxing, and delivered a ferocious body attack and pressure on his opponent.

It’s weird. I can’t help thinking that Fury will be more confident in the rematch.

Usyk went through hell in that fight, and at times he looked tiny against Fury. His route to victory was pressure, and he suffered on the way to that. What does he do differently next time? What other routes to victory does he have?

Fury will feel that his best performance ceiling will be higher than Usyk’s. He saw how he was so much bigger than his opponent and had huge reach, height and weight advantages that he didn’t really use last time. He started off boxing on the back foot, and that phase of the fight was pretty even. When he stopped retreating, planted his feet and bombarded Usyk to the body, he was handily winning that and had Usyk hurt several times. He will feel that he only lost because Usyk was “lucky” ������ in landing the big shot that turned the whole fight around …. And even then it was a split decision.

i’m really looking forward to the rematch.