2024 Fight of the Year: Usyk-Fury I
Plus the 9 honorable mentions in order; past winners year by year
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For 25 years, there had not been an undisputed heavyweight champion, not since Lennox Lewis outpointed fellow legend Evander Holyfield in their 1999 rematch to unify the three titles necessary for that lofty status back then.
But at long last, after ups and downs of negotiations, delays and, finally, an infusion of mega millions from Saudi Arabia, lineal/WBC champion Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk, who held the WBO, IBF and WBA titles, had a deal to meet for all four belts in a historic summit meeting of the two best big men on the planet. Not only that, they were undefeated, an exceedingly rare element in such a huge heavyweight championship fight.
Of course, the hype would be enormous, but more often than not such events rarely live up to such sky-high expectations.
But Fury-Usyk did not disappoint when they met on May 18 at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — the first of their two bouts against each other in 2024 — for the biggest stakes in boxing. They not only met the moment but exceeded the expectations.
It was a glorious night for a sport that needs more of them as they delivered a high-caliber battle. It was an instant classic. The fight dubbed “Ring of Fire” also proved to be the 2024 Fight Freaks Unite fight of the year.
In the end, Usyk, who got off to a slow start and trailed after the seventh round on all three scorecards, stormed back against an opponent who was six inches taller than him and nearly 40 pounds heavier. He got credit for a knockdown in the ninth round when the ropes held the Bambi-legged Fury up during a massive onslaught in which Usyk was as close as could be to a stoppage but for the restraint of referee Mark Nelson.
Fury ultimately survived the crisis but it was Usyk who went on to win a reasonable split decision to become the undisputed champion and undisputed in a second division, having previously unified the four belts at cruiserweight. He won 115-112 and 114-113 and one judge had it 114-113 for Fury, who would have salvaged a split draw had he not suffered the knockdown and then complained about the scoring.
Make sure to check out the other 2024 award stories so far
“It’s big opportunity for me, for my family, for my country, for history,” Ukraine’s Usyk, a man of few words, said in the ring moments after Fury told him “well done” and kissed him on the head. “It’s a great time, great day.”
Fury landed many hard right hands and appeared in control halfway through the bout and even wobbled Usyk with a sharp right uppercut in the seventh round. From the eighth round on, however, Usyk, who was cut over his right eye, swept most of the rounds to eke out the win. He had answers for whatever Fury threw at him and he marked up Fury’s face, gave him a bloody nose and hurt him with a right hand in the eighth round.
Then he nearly knocked Fury out in a huge ninth round, especially in the final 30 seconds, when he inflicted major damage. He rocked Fury with a straight left hand along the ropes and got off nearly a dozen unanswered punches that sent Fury staggering backward into the ropes.
Usyk chased him down and began teeing off with Fury barely on his feet. When Usyk landed a clean left, Fury fell into the ropes and slid toward the corner. With the ropes all that were keeping Fury upright, Nelson ruled a knockdown, but the round ended before Usyk could get off another shot.
Usyk was doing more damage in the 12th round when Fury responded with a right and when they accidentally clashed heads, they took a moment to touch gloves in a show of respect just before the epic fight ended.
“What a magnificent fight it was,” said Frank Warren, Fury’s co-promoter. “It absolutely was what we all expected: a great fight, two great fighters. After the first round I thought Tyson was gonna stop him. He was so much in control of the fight. But when he got caught on the nose and in my opinion he lost his concentration just for a moment (in the eighth round) and the next round there was a 10-8 round (with the knockdown). … It was a brilliant night for boxing and we should celebrate what we watched because these guys showed true grit all the way through.”
Fury, always with a way with words, summed it up like this: “We put on a good fight for the fans. I always say it’s about getting paid and getting laid and we did that.”
Correction: They didn’t put on a good fight. They put on a great one.