Views: 2
Tyson Fury’s confused first response after losing to Oleksandr Usyk caught on camera.
Tyson Fury insists he did enough to beat Oleksandr Usyk despite losing on the judges scorecards.
The ‘Gypsy King’ was beaten for the second time by the masterful Ukrainian, who was able to impress the judges enough to take the victory and defend his titles.
Fury was disappointed with the judges for their first encounter, having lost by split decision on that occasion.
It was an evenly-contested affair in all, but Usyk was deemed by the three scoring judges to have done enough, with the scorecards reading 116-112 all in the still champion’s favour.
Fury left the ring without completing a full post-fight interview in the ring.
But he was caught on camera backstage giving his first reaction, insisting he deserved to have his hand raised.
“Did you think I’d done enough to win it, truthfully?” he shouted to friend and ex-trainer Ben Davison.
“I swear to god I thought I’d done enough to win it by at least three rounds.
“I was on the front foot.”
Fury was clearly aggrieved by the decision for the second time, which came as a shock to himself and his team.
The scorecards were all unanimous on this occasion, and handed a devastating second defeat to his professional record.
A full AI scorecard was also in action in the background and also scored Usyk as the winner, but by a wider margin at 118-112.
His promoter Frank Warren shared Fury’s grievance at the decision, and was equally as baffled by the final decision.
“It’s nuts. Did you have him as only winning four rounds out of eight?
“Very harsh. It’s nuts. I don’t get it. But it is what it is, and we’ll see what happens in the future with Tyson.
“Tyson was dumbfounded. They gave him four rounds out of the 12, which is impossible.
“I’ve been around a long time and I know I’m biased, but one judge didn’t give him, any rounds from round six onwards. Look! No rounds. How can that be? That’s impossible.
“Same with the other judge. They gave him one round in the last six, and the same here with this guy. It’s crazy. I’m calm and collected, I’m not screaming and shouting. That is a nonsense.
“Oscar de la Hoya had him [Fury] winning by three or four rounds. And he’s a neutral.”
Fury himself agreed with his promoter’s verdict and said: “I thought I won that fight. I thought I won both fights but I’m going home with two losses on my record. There’s not much I can do about it. I can just fight my heart out.
“I will believe til the day I die that I won that fight. I was aggressive, on the front foot all night, landing to the body and head. Frank Warren [his promoter] had me three or four rounds up. A lot of people had me at least two rounds up. But I’m not going to cry over spilled milk. I can’t change the decision. When you don’t get the KO this is what happens: you can’t guarantee a win.”
A Ukranian journalist asked Fury if his opponent had been inspired by the defiant spirit of his war-torn country: “I didn’t feel no spirit. I felt a bit of Christmas spirit in there and think he got a Christmas gift from those judges.”
The final punch stats saw that Fury threw more punches at 509 to Usyk’s 423.
However, overall Usyk landed 179 along the distance in comparison to 144 by his British rival.
It meant that Usyk had an accuracy rate of 42 per cent of his punches having hit the target, with Fury much less efficient on 28 per cent.
A bitter pill to swallow came for the ‘Gypsy King’ who will now need to make a decision what to do next.
After back-to-back defeats against Usyk, a trilogy is highly unlikely with ‘The Cat’ likely to see the rivalry as over.
But a looming all-British war against Anthony Joshua could remain an interest, despite his foe’s brutal defeat to Daniel Dubois.
(talk sport)