Fighter of the Week (5/13-5/19): Oleksandr Usyk
It was a history-making weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Undefeated former undisputed Cruiserweight champion, Olympic gold medalist, and current unified heavyweight champion made history Saturday evening and outpointed undefeated Lineal and WBC heavyweight champ Tyson Fury to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999. The Ukrainian moved his record to 22-0 (14), took home all four major belts, nearly stopped the giant Brit, carved his place in history, made his claim for pound-for-pound best in the sport, and took home our Fighter of the Week award.
The Ukrainian and the Brit battled gigantic momentum switches throughout the 12-round affair. Early on Usyk, had success in the first three rounds out-jabbing and out-landing Fury with his jab and mixing in some excellent left hands. Fury got things going in the fourth, maintaining the distance and firing in short combinations to take rounds four through six. Fury had his best moment in the sixth with sixth where he rocked Usyk and seemed to have him in a bit of trouble as Usyk went on the retreat, and Usyk appeared to be in retreat. The unified heavyweight champ settled down in the seventh, won the eighth, and nearly stopped Fury in the ninth. In a shocking moment, Usyk scored with a massive left hand and unleashed a barrage of shots that put Fury into the ropes, and was ruled down, that the ropes were holding Fury up. That ruling, the correct call, saved a helpless Fury who was helpless, and perhaps one shot away from fighting stopped him. Fury bounced back a little bit and survived the 10th and 11th and perhaps won the 12th in a thrilling affair where the judges ultimately got the winner right despite the cards being a bit too close. 115-112 and 114-113 in favor of Usyk, and the third judge, Craig Metcalfe of Canada, handed in an egregious 114-113 in favor of Fury
The future is unclear for Usyk because there is no predicting what Fury will do. Fury has been erratic and unstable over the years. The only thing left on the table for Usyk is a rematch with Fury, and there's no telling if and when that will get done. It's currently scheduled for October, but that will almost certainly not happen. Usyk fights just once a year, and Fury has been completely unpredictable. The other option, probably the better option for the 37-year-old is retirement. There is nothing Usyk can do to grow his legacy. He's the best heavyweight of his era and the best cruiserweight of all time. There's nothing he can do to build his legacy; he can only taint it by hanging around too long. He's made more money than he can spend, and his legacy is cemented. Perhaps it's time to hang it up.
