Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 12 KOs) retained his world title with a 12-round unanimous decision win over Tyson Fury (34-2-2, 24 KOs) in a rematch on Saturday night at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh. , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Dozens
116-112
116-112
116-112
Boxing News 24 scored it for Usyk 9-3 (117-111), overpowering an aging-looking Fury, who looked sluggish and flabby around the midsection.
Fury was at his best in the first five rounds, and appeared to have won three of them. From the sixth round onwards, Usyk dominated Fury, hitting him with hard left hands.
Undercard results
– In an expected mismatch, heavyweight contender Moses Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs) defeated Australian Demsey McKean (22-2, 14 KOs) in the first round in their main support bout. Itauma, 19, dropped McCain with a nice left-handed rabbit punch to the back of the head in the first knockdown. The referee allowed the knockout even though it was a clear shot to the back of the head. Moments later, Itauma knocked McCain down for the second time of the round with a left hand to the chin.
Then the referee stopped the fight. This match should have been lower on the card because it was a mismatch on paper and wasn't as interesting as the ones before it. However, event promoters are trying to build hype for Itauma as an eventual replacement for the aging Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua. It's questionable whether Itauma has the talent to take on the current young crop of heavyweights like Daniel Dubois or other upcoming players, but it's understandable why his promoter would put him so clearly in the spotlight to make him look great against limited opposition. However, he doesn't look as good in some of his other fights.
– Serhiy Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) bounced back and stopped replacement opponent Ishmael Davis (13-2, 6 KOs) in a sixth-round TKO for the WBC junior middleweight championship. Davis' corner took him out at the end of the sixth round due to the punishment he received from Bohachuk. In the second round, Davis was taken down hard by a short left hook from Bohachuk that he never saw coming. After the second round, it was all one-sided, as Bohachuk walked over and landed heavy blows on Davis.
-Undefeated British heavyweight prospect Johnny Fisher (13-0, 11 KOs) won a controversial 10-round split decision over Dave Allen (23-7-2, 18 KOs). Fisher was dropped in the 5th round by a left hand from Allen and was hurt in rounds 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Fisher looked useless after the 5th round and mainly survived by getting caught and landing weak shots that had nothing to do with them. He looked dirty, tired and old for a 25 year old.
It is not surprising that Fisher made this decision because he is being promoted as a local artist – a heavyweight. He sells tickets, and is very popular. However, it didn't look like he won, so the decision makes sense from a business angle. Allen obviously won, but he's not a big ticket seller.
The referee allowed Fischer to use his straight left arm most of the time, which was illegal and should have resulted in a warning. It is not clear whether the British rulers allowed illegal rough arming. The US reviewer does not allow this to be used.
Dozens
– 95-94: Fisher
– 96-93: Allen
– 95-94: Fisher
Boxing News 24 Allen won 7-3.
– Feather weight Lee McGregor (15-1-1, 11 KOs) won a grueling 10-round unanimous decision over Isaac Lowe (25-3-4, 8 KOs) to capture the WBC international 126-pound title. Lowe, 30, was penalized twice for missing his mouthpiece, being pinned in the ninth and 10th rounds. He lost his mouthpiece eight times in combat. The results were 96-92, 97-91 and 97-91.
The referee's decision to stop the action to punish Lowe in the final two rounds may have saved McGregor from disqualification, as he suffered a body injury. Furthermore, the referee failed to punish McGregor for his excessive decisiveness in the ninth and tenth games.
McGregor's non-stop holding, coupled with the referee's actions, probably saved him this fight. It was hard to watch Louie lose like that because he could have won.
The referee gave up and didn't bother stopping the action to put Louie back on his mouthpiece when he lost it in the last minute of the tenth round.
– Super featherweight Peter McGrail (11-1, 6 KOs) defeated Rhys Edwards (16-1, 4 KOs) by a closer-than-expected 10-round unanimous decision. The results were 96-95, 96-94 and 96-94. Edwards came on late, landing powerful shots that repeatedly hit McGrail's head.
– Light weight potential Daniel Lapin (11-0, 4 KOs) easily defeated previously undefeated Dylan Cullen (14-1, 4 KOs) by 10-round unanimous decision to win the IBF International 175-pound title. The lanky, 6'6″ Ukrainian Lapin used his length and reach to pick Colin apart. When Colin approaches, Lapin restrains him. The results were 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91. Labin didn't show much power in the fight, and his habit of clinching often wasn't fun to watch. He will somehow have the strength to be able to overcome the best contenders in the 175 pound division. Without massive improvements in power, Lapin will not get far.
– Heavy weight Andrei Novitsky (14-0, 10 KOs) used his Bivol-esque fighting style to defeat Edgar Ramirez (10-2-1, 4 KOs) by a one-sided 10-round unanimous decision.
The scores were 98-92, 100-90 and 100-90. The 6'6″, Ukrainian-born Nowitzki, 29, used a striking and retreating approach to control each round against the slow, soft-hitting Ramirez all night.
It wasn't fun to watch, but the technique proved effective for Andrei. It wasn't the kind of performance Novytskiyi gave that would win him any fans, but Bivol became famous with the same approach. So maybe there are hopes for him.
– Muhammad Al-Aqeel He defeated Joshua Ocampo by unanimous decision in a 6-round lightweight bout
