Tyson Fury vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight results, highlights: Ukrainian wins to become undisputed heavyweight champ

Usyk joins Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue in earning undisputed crowns in multiple divisions in the four-belt era

The narratives went out the window when Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury met to crown an undisputed heavyweight champion on Saturday. Fury, the bigger and supposedly more powerful man, outboxed the boxer in the first half of the fight before Usyk turned the fight on a dime with a brutal ninth-round assault  that appeared to have the "Gypsy King" out on his feet for a moment as he stumbled around the ring before crashing to the canvas.

When it was all said and done, Usyk was crowned the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis in 1999 and the first of the four-belt era. Two of the three judges favored him by scores of 115-112, 113-114 and 114-113.

Fury showed great boxing technique early, upending the narrative that Usyk's boxing technique would be too much for the bigger man. Fury's distance management was key as he popped with clean jabs and dug hard to Usyk's body.

Fury was confident enough as he seized control of the action to begin taunting Usyk. The one thing that was questionable in Fury's approach, even as he was firmly in control of the action, was his willingness to move backward, often fighting off the ropes or while trapped in the corner.

Things started to turn in Round 7, as Usyk found more success with his constant forward pressure and overhand lefts, taking advantage of Fury fighting off the back foot so frequently. But Round 9 was the true turning point as Usyk landed several clean shots before Fury began stumbling around the ring. Usyk continued to swarm with big shots until the ropes prevented Fury from dropping to the canvas, mandating a count from the referee.

The big moment started with a clean straight left to Fury's jaw that sent Fury back into the ropes. Usyk chased Fury around the ring as Fury stumbled on rubber legs, landing lefts and rights. Fury finally dropped against the ropes and as he beat the 10 count, the bell sounded, likely saving Fury from suffering a stoppage by knockout.

After the knockdown, Usyk never took his foot off the gas and outworked Fury over the second half of the fight.

With the win, Usyk joins Terence Crawford and Naoya Inoue as the only male fighters to have earned undisputed status across two weight classes in the four-belt era, having previously been undisputed at cruiserweight.

After suffering the first defeat in his storied career, Fury maintained his belief that he won the fight but said he had no doubt he would activate his contractual right to a rematch. Fury also added a questionable statement seemingly suggesting that the judges favored Usyk because of the ongoing conflict surrounding Russia's invasion of Usyk's native Ukraine.

"I believe I won that fight," Fury said. "I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won a majority of them. I believe it was, what can you do, one of the decisions in boxing. We both put on a great fight, best we could do. And you know, his country is at war, some people are siding with the country at war. Make no mistake, I won that fight in my opinion, and I'll be back. I got a rematch clause."

For his part, Usyk was quick to say he would have no problem accepting the rematch.

"Yes, of course," Usyk said. "If he wants, I'm ready for a rematch."

Elsewhere on the card, Jai Opetaia regained the cruiserweight title he never lost in the ring against a familiar face. Opetaia battered Mairis Briedis before surviving a late onslaught to capture the IBF title at 200 pounds. The native of Australia is undefeated at 25-0 with 19 knockouts on his resume. Plus, Anthony Cacace pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the year in stopping Joe Cordina to claim the IBF super featherweight title. The 35-year-old badly hurt Cordina early in the fight as the referee was stepping in to break up a clinch and Cordina never fully recovered as Cacace poured on the pressure before the fight was waved off.

Plus, Agit Kabayel earned a future title shot by taking out fellow contender Frank Sanchez. After scoring a stunning knockout over Arslanbek Makhmudov in December, the German did the same again on Saturday in taking out the highly touted Cuban prospect in a WBC title eliminator. And it may have been the end of the road for a former unified light heavyweight champion Sergey Kovalev as the "Krusher" was nearly stopped by Robin Safar late and lost a unanimous decision to the unheralded rising prospect in the cruiserweight division. Kovalev, 41, had just one fight in the last four years after losing by TKO to Canelo Alvarez in November 2019. 

CBS Sports was with the live results and highlights below. 

Fight card, results

• Oleksandr Usyk (c) def. Tyson Fury (c) via split decision (115-112, 113-114, 114-113)
  
• Jai Opetaia (c) def. Mairis Briedis via unanimous decision (117-111, 116-112, 116-112)
  
• Anthony Cacace def. Joe Cordina (c) via eighth-round knockout
  
• Agit Kabayel def. Frank Sanchez via seventh-round knockout
• Moses Itauma def. Ilja Mezencev via second-round knockout
• Mark Chamberlain def. Joshua Oluwaseun Wahab via first-round knockout
• Robin Sirwan Safar def. Sergey Kovalev via unanimous decision (97-92, 99-90, 95-94)
• David Nyika def. Michael Seitz via sixth-round knockout

Fury vs. Usyk scorecard, live coverage

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Fury (c)	10	9	10	10	10	10	10	9	8	9	9	10	114
Usyk (c)	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	10	10	10	10	9	113

[May 18, 2024 at 7:38 pm ET · Brent Brookhouse]

Official result: Oleksandr Usyk def. Tyson Fury via split decision (115-112, 113-114, 114-113) OLEKSANDR USYK IS THE UNDISPUTED HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION