The Boxing Truth®

As fate would have it with several scheduled bouts that were to take place over the Christmas holidays and were intended to be covered in a package form in this column by this observer being postponed, it would turn out that the last major event on the Boxing calendar in 2024 was the second encounter between undefeated unified WBO/IBO/WBA/WBC Heavyweight world champion Oleksandr Usyk and former two-time Heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury. A highly anticipated rematch that took place on December 21st in the same location as their first meeting for the then Undisputed Heavyweight championship of the world on May 18, 2024, the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. By now, most Boxing fans are familiar with the close competition of that first fight and also familiar with the showboating approach through several of the early rounds by Fury, which in addition to a controversial knockdown ruled against him in the month round, in which some believed the fight should have been stopped, cost...

In chapter one of the story between Heavyweight champions Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, the focus was centered on the element of history. After all, when the two undefeated champions met in May of this year in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, it was to determine something that hadn't been seen in Boxing in twenty-five years albeit and unfortunately temporarily. An Undisputed World Heavyweight champion and the first champion to successfully unify all five recognized world championships under one fighter. As most know, despite the historical significance of the occasion, there was the knowledge going into the event last May 18th that the new Undisputed championship would not last long. This was due to a pre-ordained rematch clause between Usyk and Fury and the International Boxing Federation being due its mandatory title defense in the rotation amongst the various sanctioning organizations immediately following the bout. Nevertheless, that knowledge did little to quell what truly was a specia...