"Gypsy King" Tyson Fury defeated by Ukrainian boxer Usyk, who is now the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the first in a quarter-century
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk has become the first undisputed heavyweight world champion in 25 years. In a dramatic headlining match in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia between the two previously undefeated rivals, Usyk beat British boxer Tyson Fury on points and has now won the championship belts of the world's four main professional boxing organizations.
Usyk (37), thanks to this 22nd victory in his 22nd professional match, now holds the belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), World Boxing Association (WBA), World Boxing Council (WBC) (previously held by Fury), and World Boxing Organization (WBO). The native of Simferopol, who frequently stresses that he is fighting for his Russian-occupied country, has joined the ranks of the legendary boxers Muhammad Ali, Max Schmeling, or Mike Tyson.
The last undisputed heavyweight champion was British boxer Lennox Lewis up until April 2000, when he was stripped of his WBA title. Fury (35) has now suffered his first-ever defeat during his 36th match in the professional ring; another previous match ended in a draw.
Fury, nicknamed “The Gypsy King”, dominated the rounds in the middle of the match, but the final rounds were Usyk’s. The London Olympic boxing champion took control of the duel in the eighth round and almost ended it in the ninth.
Usyk’s left sent Fury to the mat, but the Brit was saved by the bell. Fury recovered and stayed in the match until the end of the final 12th round, but the judges gave the victory to Usyk. Two called him the winner by a ratio of 115:112 and 114:113, while the third called Fury the winner by a ratio of 114:113.
A rematch can be expected in the fall, again in Saudi Arabia. “I thank my team. This was a big opportunity for me, for my family and for my country. This is a wonderful day. Yes, naturally I’m ready for a rematch,” Usyk said in the ring.
After his first career defeat, Fury still kept his reputation as a man who speaks his mind. “I think I won. He may have won a couple of rounds, but I won most of them. This was one of the worst ever decisions in boxing, but I’m not going to cry about it and make excuses. We’ll go home to our families and see each other again in October,” Fury said of the rematch.
Yesterday’s match was originally supposed to be held in April 2023 in Wembley Stadium, but the promoters could not agree on terms. It also was not held on 17 February this year because Fury suffered a laceration above his right eye during training.
The boxers can expect financial remuneration of an estimated USD 150 million. Fury’s purse will be reduced to 70 %, and according to the contract he has to donate USD 1 million to aid Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Tyson Fury proudly espouses his Romani origins
Tyson Fury, nicknamed “The Gypsy King”, was born in Manchester, England into a family of Irish Travellers. His father named him after world heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson. Fury proudly espouses his Romani origins.
“I’m proud of who I am,” he says of his Romani origin. “I’m glad I’m a Romani man. My Traveller origins give me determination and the will to win, to dig as deep as possible. There’s no defeat in me. As a Traveller, I regret nothing. I know what I have to do and how to move forward,” a determined Fury said previously.
Travellers are an originally non-Romani, itinerant population who made their living on the road and who probably existed in the British Isles prior to the arrival of the first Romani inhabitants at the beginning of the 16th century. Since the Roma and the Travellers in those days had similar ways of life, their mutual interconnections intensified through mixed marriages, and the majority population perceives them to this day as essentially one monolithic group.
