After defeating Tyson Fury in an epic battle, Oleksandr Usyk broke down in tears, his blood and perspiration clearly visible from the first few moments of the bout.
The exchange between Fury and his coach prior to the eighth round on Saturday night served as the greatest example of the guts needed to overcome the considerably bigger and taller Fury.
The Ukrainian had a great start, but he lost control as Fury took advantage of his size. Usyk looked to need assistance after suffering a serious gash on his right eyebrow at the end of the seventh round.
Fortunately for the 37-year-old, a crucifix was the means of delivery. Usyk, a devoted Christian, is shown kissing the priceless object at his coach’s request.
Usyk beat Tyson Fury by the narrowest of margins to become undisputed heavyweight champion
On X, the former Twitter platform, a user commented, “Moments like this make you realize how deep these athletes have to dig sometimes to achieve these unbelievable feats.”
Whatever the reason, Usyk made a comeback in the later parts of the battle and executed a devastating sequence in the ninth round that almost put an early stop to the fight.
The judges ultimately gave him the advantage, scoring it 115-112, 113-114, and 114-113 to make history as the first heavyweight champion to go undefeated in the four-belt era.
But the 37-year-old Ukrainian will lose the IBF championship in the upcoming weeks in order to concentrate on a scheduled rematch with Fury that is anticipated to happen in October.
This is because Usyk’s required opponent for the IBF championship, Filip Hrgovic, will not wait for that rematch to happen. As a result, Usyk will forfeit the IBF belt, and it will be up for grabs when Hrgovic fights Daniel Dubois in June of this year.
Following that June match, the winner is anticipated to take on Anthony Joshua at Wembley in September.
This implies that the winner of the rematch between Usyk and Fury won’t be the undisputed world champion because they won’t have the IBF title.
The victor would then have to decide if they wanted to try to get that back in order to bring the division back together.
Usyk breaks down in tears as he recalls his devoted late father.
Nevertheless, Usyk didn’t seem to be too concerned about losing the IBF title when he spoke about it following the fight.
The Gypsy King suffered a severe cut above his eye while training, so the bout was rescheduled from its initial date of February 17. This left the Ukrainian exhausted after having to undergo an especially extended build-up to his battle with Fury.
