Tyson Fury certain he won Oleksandr Usyk rematch: ‘I’ll always believe until the day I die I’ve won that fight’
Tyson Fury believes he did enough against Oleksandr Usyk to avenge his first loss, even if the judges didn’t see it that way.
In another hard-fought, 12-round battle, Usyk again came out on top against Fury on Saturday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. All three judges scored the fight 116-112 in Usyk’s favor, making the Ukrainian heavyweight star 2-0 in their series after he won a split nod over Fury this past May.
Fury spoke to reporters at a post-fight press conference and he’s confident that not only did he beat Usyk in their rematch, he should be the one up 2-0.
“I was quite confident,” Fury said. “I thought I won that fight again. I think I’ve got ‘Larry Holmes’d’ here. I thought I’ve won both fights, but then again I’ve gone home with two losses on my record now, so there’s not much I can do about it. I can just fight my heart out and do the best I can.
“But again, I’ll always believe until the day I die I’ve won that fight.”
From Fury’s perspective, he was the one pressing the action more over the course of the 36-minute contest. Much of the bout saw Fury attempting to establish range with his long jab, and then punish Usyk with uppercuts inside. However, Usyk frequently worked his way past Fury’s defenses to land hard head shots inside and though he didn’t come close to finishing Fury like he did in the ninth round of their first fight, on-screen stats gave Usyk the edge in power punches landed.
Fury even acknowledged that a few rounds might have looked close in the judges’ eyes and he didn’t feel there was any point in lamenting the scores.
“I was on the front foot all night, landing body and head,” Fury said. “Listen, sometimes it’s hard to score.”
“[Queensbury Promotions’] Frank [Warren] had me three or four rounds up, a lot of people had me at least two. I just don’t know. Listen, it is what it is. I’m not going to cry over spilled milk, it’s happened now. I know boxing, been in it all my life, you can’t change no decisions, but I’ll just always feel a little bit hard done by. Not a little bit, actually a lot, but I think when you don’t get the knockout, this is what happens. You can’t guarantee a win.”
When a reporter—who identified themselves as hailing from Usyk’s native Ukraine—asked if Fury could feel Usyk’s fighting spirit in the ring, “The Gypsy King” offered an amused response.
“I didn’t feel no spirit,” Fury said. “I felt a little bit of Christmas spirit in there and I think he got a little Christmas gift from them judges.”
Fury was non-committal as far as his plans for the future, though a long-awaited matchup with fellow British heavyweight star Anthony Joshua seems likely. For now, Fury plans to rest and wait until 2025 before he makes any decisions.
“What’s next for me, I’m going home and having some time off. You might do, you might not do. Who knows? We’ll talk about that next year.”
