Oleksandr Usyk is the heavyweight king, having collected the last title [WBC] on the way to a split-decision victory over Tyson Fury to become undisputed on May 18th. The heavyweight undisputed bout headlined a multi-promotional card at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Both WBA, WBO & IBF champion Oleksandr Usyk (22-0, 14 KO’s) and WBC heavyweight titleholder Tyson Fury (34-1-1, 24 KO’s) stepped into the ring as unbeaten competitors, but only Usyk left the ring with his record intact and all the world titles―as well as The Ring lineal title.

The undisputed bout between the two heavyweights was soundly competitive. The first half of the fight seemed to go primarily in Tyson Fury’s favor, though Usyk grabbed some rounds with his approach; a front-foot pressure style of fighting that resulted in the Ukrainian attempting to force the issue on the inside.

It was an approach that had a mixed effect; Tyson Fury lost at least two rounds to figure out how to properly gauge the distance while fighting on the backfoot while Oleksandr Usyk used his aggressiveness and footwork to establish himself. However, Fury eventually figured out Usyk’s approach, and found success once he found his range and figured out how to keep Usyk at bay using his jabs and remaining unpredictable.

For the first time of his career, perhaps, Oleksandr Usyk found himself outboxed for a fair number of rounds while Fury showboated―though this could be construed as an attempt to throw Usyk off. Surprisingly, Fury’s antics seemed to work quite well as he landed heavy punches against Usyk, mitigating the Ukrainian’s come-forward style and causing quite a stir in the stadium as he started winning several rounds in a row.

One of the later rounds saw Tyson Fury move ahead on the scorecards clearly, landing several blows to the body against Oleksandr Usyk that the Ukrainian clearly struggled with, but instead of capitalizing on the damage he seemed to be doing, Fury did not capitalize and showboating remained a staple in his style; a decision he would come to heavily rue later on.

Notably, Tyson Fury seemed to be drawing heavily from his reservoir of stamina to tag Oleksandr Usyk with combinations; forcing the British heavyweight to give up some ground as Usyk, despite fatigue also plaguing him due to Fury’s constant counters and attacks, did not truly budge with his approach except for using the jab more frequently.

Usyk’s determination to refuse to fully retreat from pressuring Fury would pay off tremendously in the 9th round, as a devastating left hook clipped Fury’s temple and turned the match around in a blink of an eye as Fury stumbled around the ring getting hit cleanly and hard several times while leaning into the ropes. While Fury did manage to remain standing throughout, his legs appeared to have gone and he was virtually being slung around the ring with little resistance; which sparked some controversy with the referee having been well within the rights to call of the match due to the damage Fury was taking, but he refused to.

Only near the end of the 9th round did the referee intercede, ruling a knockdown in favor of Usyk after Fur had almost slumped down to the ground and appeared to have been knocked out while standing. Though there will still be debate on whether the match should have been stopped then and there, the referee was forced to rule a knockdown in favor of Usyk after Fury had basically fallen into the ropes; with the only indication he wasn’t knocked down being that both his feet were still on the canvas.

From there on, the match largely went in Usyk’s favor who knew Fury’s legs were barely able to keep him standing. The 10th round, the start of the three championship rounds until the 12th, went decisively in Usyk’s favor as he attempted to close out the match; with only Fury’s remarkable ability to recover preventing a certain stoppage or knockout win in favor of Fury.

By the 11th round, Fury had regained some of his strength but looked worse for wear as he struggled to defend against Usyk’s attacks, and he was mostly forced to retreat on the backfoot while he kept active enough to indicate he could still go on. Fury landed some good punches that may have mildly stunned Usyk, but the power he had displayed earlier was gone, allowing Usyk’s own more-frequently thrown punches to likely make him edge. Overall, however, the 11th round might have gone either way.

The last and decisive 12th round was also close, with both Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury fighting fatigue to throw as many punches as possible. Usyk might have slightly edged the last round based on activity as he attempted to solidify a close win, yet Fury also did admirably following the knockdown he suffered several rounds ago and managed to again hit Usyk with force. However, Fury did not seemingly have enough impact to truly take the round.

The bell of the 12th round, signaling the end of the match, was followed by a lot of tension with neither the fighters and their teams, as well as the attendants of the event, uncertain of who had won. However, the judges’ scorecards, as announced by boxing announcer Michael Buffet, seemed to have drawn a fitting conclusion to a close and competitive bout as Usyk was declared the winner by split-decision (SD) with scorecards of 114-113 and 115-112 against the sole judge that ruled a win for Fury with a score of 113-114.

For the first time in history, a heavyweight undisputed champion had collected all of the four belts since the establishment of the WBO as a major sanctioning body, with Oleksandr Usyk becoming crowned the undisputed winner of the contest; tying up a remarkable achievement for a remarkable fighter.

The rest of the undercard was similarly not devoid of any entertainment or competitiveness. The match preceding the main event, the cruiserweight title bout between Jai Opetaia (25-0 ,19 KO’s) and Mairis Briedis (28-3, 20 KO’s) for the vacant IBF title and The Ring lineal belt―held by Opetaia, proved to be similar to their 2022 bout that saw Opetaia claim the IBF belt that belonged to Briedis.

As like their first match, both fighters received their fare share of injuries; Opetaia seemingly damaged his nose profusely to the point it bled, while Briedis suffered a cut that caused more than a little blood to spew over his face. Throughout the match, it was Opetaia that took the majority share of rounds but there were several key moments in the match that might have allowed Briedis to turn around the match.

Following the 12th round, Opetaia was announced the winner by unanimous decision (UD), though Briedis had certainly earned some respect in the way he fought; having come back from losing almost every single round to taking a couple of his own by sheer effort and determination. Conclusively, while Opetaia showed the same determination to win as he had the previous match against Briedis, there are some doubts as to whether he could have actually won had the 39-year old Briedis been within the prime of his age. Nevertheless, Opetaia deservedly won and was able to become a world champion for the second time of his career; almost half a year after losing his IBF title due to the sanctioning body’s inconsistent stringency.

The heavyweight bout between German contender Agit Kabayel (25-0, 17 KO’s) and Cuban fighter Frank Sanchez (24-1, 17 KO’s) saw the former surprise onlookers once more as he won by knockout; virtue of body shots that felled Sanchez and left him unable to beat the count of 10 to stand up in time.

For the second time of his career, Kabayel went in the underdog and came out the surprising winner by astoundingly similar circumstances as his last match against Arslanbek Makhmudov (18-1, 17 KO’s). From the onset, Sanchez disappointed, his bulky size and skills not making any difference to Kabayel who pressured the Cuban early on.

Whether beset by some sort of pre-match leg injury or merely unaccustomed to pressure, Sanchez had trouble to assert himself and aside from not being as active as needed throughout the rounds, the Cuban also seemed to lack the power to make any difference.

Speculation still mounts as to whether Sanchez had to endure some sort of injury, but in any case Kabayel proved himself to be the better fighter, showing remarkable stamina in being able to keep up closing the distance and throwing off debilitating shots that Sanchez was barely able to defend himself against. Even without having the requisite offense needed to win, Sanchez’ defensive skills were in low supply against Kabayel as he proved unable to fend of the German’s attacks.

This eventually resulted in Sanchez being knocked down by a body shot in the 7th round; courtesy of Kabayel’s body work throughout the match. Not long after, Sanchez was knocked down again by a body shot―again, reminiscent of Kabayel’s previous match against Makhmudov, and Agit Kabayel was announced the winner by knockout (KO) after Sanchez this time couldn’t beat the count of 10.

Kabayel’s victory has now certified him as perhaps the top contender in the heavyweight division, only being deemed below Anthony Joshua at this point by virtue of having a lesser reputation and fewer achievements than the former British world champion. However, it has become clear that Kabayel should be considered for a world title opportunity sooner rather than later.

The most surprising result that seemed to occur on the multi-promotional card was the title bout between British/Welsh IBF super featherweight champion Joe Cordina (17-1, 9 KO’s) and British/Northern Irish contender Anthony Cacace (22-1, 8 KO’s).

Cacace had come in as the clear underdog, having never before fought for a world title and being more known except for the IBO title he conquered during his last match; though the IBO is not a major sanctioning body. Cordina, in comparison, came in as the more experienced competitor on the world stage, and had the greater KO percentage to boot, making for a match that at first glance appeared to be a clear mismatch.

However, Anthony Cacace surprised every single bystander by coming out as the victor. The first two rounds had gone seamlessly in Cordina’s favor whose boxing ability kept Cacace―who sought to make an impact on the inside―perfectly at bay. The 3rd round, however, saw the match turn virtually upside down as Cordina suffered a surprising knockdown virtue of Cacace’s constant pressure―which had up to that point been rather ineffective.

The knockdown proved to be the one thing Cacace needed to gain the advantage, and despite first struggling to capitalize after Cordina grew more careful in the subsequent 4th round, the rest of the rounds saw Cacace arguably win the rounds with Cordina having seemingly not been fully recovered. By the 7th round, Cacace again pounced on Cordina after a well-placed shot, and the referee was forced to intercede as Cordina looked incapable of properly defending himself once Cacace smelled blood.

The Northern Irish contender turned into a champion following the referee’s interference as the match was ruled a win for him by technical knockout (TKO), allowing Cacace to notch an important feat in his career as he won the IBF title from Cordina.

The rest of the undercard saw several fighters from various promotions aim to earn name. A surprising addition to the match was that of Russian former world champion Sergey Kovalev (35-5-1, 29 KO’s) who had not fought for little over two years. Even more surprisingly, Kovalev suffered a loss in his return during his cruiserweight non-title bout; ending up being defeated by the undefeated Swedish contender Robin Sirwan Safar (17-0, 12 KO’s). Safar, an unknown commodity before the match, certainly contributed to his name being known after catching onlookers off-guard by defeating Kovalev by UD.

While Oleksandr Usyk achieved a monumental feat in becoming the first heavyweight undisputed champion of the four-belt era, the Ukrainian is no longer undisputed as the IBF will strip him of his IBF belt; a decision that had been expected to be made due to the automatic rematch clause set between Usyk and Fury.

Due to Usyk being unable to defend his title against IBF interim champion Filip Hrgovic (17-0, 14 KO’s), Oleksandr Usyk will not remain undisputed for long but has at least sealed himself as the best heavyweight of the current era following the retirement of the Klitschko brothers, making him more or less the heir-apparent to the previous reign of the Ukrainian heavyweight champions.

The IBF’s upcoming decision has not yet been confirmed; and will not be confirmed as the sanctioning body does not release any developments through their own communication platforms. However, if the IBF does not turn out to be as inconsistent as they have been, they will double down on their decision and Hrgovic might be elevated to IBF world champion in the near future.