Unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 12 KOs) held onto his world title with a 12 round unanimous decision win over Tyson Fury (34-2-2, 24 KOs) in their rematch on Saturday night at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The scores
116-112
116-112
116-112
Boxing News 24 scored it for Usyk 9-3 [117-111], beating an old looking Fury, who looked slow and flabby around the midsection.
Fury was at his best in the first five rounds, appearing to win three of them. From the sixth round on, Usyk dominated Fury, hitting him with hard left hands.
Undercard Results
– In a predictable mismatch, heavyweight contender Moses Itauma (11-0, 9 KOs) blew away Australian Demsey McKean (22-2, 14 KOs) in the first round in the chief support bout. Itauma, 19, dropped Mckean with a beautiful left-hand rabbit punch to the back of the head for the first knockdown. The referee allowed the knockdown, even though it was a clear shot to the back of the head. Moments later, Itauma knocked McKean down for the second time of the round with a left hand to the chin.
The referee then halted the fight. This match should have been lower on the card because it was a mismatch on paper and nowhere near as interesting as the ones before it. However, the event’s promoters are trying to create hype for Itauma as the eventual replacements for the aging Oleksandr Usyk, Tyson Fury, and Anthony Joshua. It’s questionable whether Itauma has the talent to beat the current young crop of heavyweights like Daniel Dubois or others that are coming up, but it’s understandable why his promoter is putting him in a highly visible spot to make him look great against limited opposition. He doesn’t look this good in some of his other fights, though.
– Serhii Bohachuk (25-2, 24 KOs) wore down and stopped replacement opponent Ishmael Davis (13-2, 6 KOs) in a sixth-round technical knockout in a WBC junior middleweight title eliminator. Davis’s Corner pulled him out at the end of the sixth round due to the punishment he was taking from Bohachuk. In round two, Davis was dropped hard by a short left hook from Bohachuk that he never saw coming. After the second round, it was all one-sided, with Bohachuk walking down Davis and nailing him with hard shots.
– Unbeaten British heavyweight prospect Johnny Fisher (13-0, 11 KOs) won a controversial 10-round split decision over journeyman Dave Allen (23-7-2, 18 KOs). Fisher was dropped in round five by a left hand from Allen and hurt in rounds 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. Fisher looked useless after the fifth and basically survived by holding and landing weak shots that had nothing on them. He looked sloppy, tired, and old for a 25-year-old.
It’s not a shock that Fisher was given the decision because he’s being hyped as a local entertainer—a heavyweight. He sells tickets, and he’s popular. He didn’t appear to win, though, so his getting the decision makes sense from a business angle. Allen clearly won, but he’s not a big ticket seller.
The referee allowed Fisher to use a left-hand straight arm much of the time, which is illegal and should have resulted in a warning. It’s unclear if British referees allow the illegal stiff arm. American refs don’t allow this to be used.
The scores
– 95-94: Fisher
– 96-93: Allen
– 95-94: Fisher
Boxing News 24 had Allen winning 7-3.
– Featherweight 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-lb title. Lowe, 30, was penalized twice for losing his mouthpiece, getting docked in rounds nine and ten. He’d lost his mouthpiece eight times in the fight. The scores were 96-92, 97-91 and 97-91.
The referee’s decision to stop the action to penalize Lowe in the final two rounds may have saved McGregor from being knocked out, as he was hurt to the body. Moreover, the referee failed to penalize McGregor for his excessive clinching in the ninth and tenth.
The nonstop holding by McGregor, along with the referee’s actions, may have saved him in this fight. It was hard to watch Lowe lose like this because he could have won.
The referee gave up and didn’t bother stopping the action to have Lowe have his mouthpiece put back in when he lost it in the final 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 scores were 96-95, 96-94 and 96-94. Edwards came on late, landing powerful shots that were snapping McGrail’s head repeatedly.
– Light heavyweight prospect Daniel Lapin (11-0, 4 KOs) easily defeated previously unbeaten Dylan Colin (14-1, 4 KOs) by a 10-round unanimous decision to win the IBF International 175-lb title. The lanky 6’6″ Ukrainian Lapin used his height and reach to pick Colin apart. When Colin would get close, Lapin would tie him up. The scores were 100-90, 99-91 and 99-91. Lapin didn’t show much power in the fight, and his habit of clinching frequently wasn’t fun to watch. He’s going to have his power somehow for him to have a shot at beating the top contenders in the 175-lb division. Without massive improvements in power, Lapin will not go far.
– Heavyweight Andrii Novytskyi (14-0, 10 KOs) utilized his Bivol-esque fighting style to defeat an overmatched 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 Ukraine-born 6’6″ Novytskyi, 29, used his hit-and-retreat style to dominate every round against the slow, light-hitting Ramirez all night.
It wasn’t entertaining to watch, but the style proved to be effective for Andrii. It wasn’t the kind of performance by Novytskiyi that would win him any fans, but Bivol has become popular with the same approach. So perhaps there’s hopes for him.
– Mohammed Alakel won against Joshua Ocampo by unanimous decision in their 6-round lightweight bout
