Usyk targets Fury as AJ outclassed again

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia－Ukraine's Oleksandr Usyk won his rematch against Anthony Joshua by split decision in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to set up a potential unification bout with Britain's Tyson Fury.

The former cruiserweight world champion, who dismantled the holder in London last year, faced an improved Joshua but outboxed him once again in just his fourth heavyweight bout.

Usyk, now unbeaten at 20-0, immediately called out Fury, who announced his latest retirement earlier this month but has signaled his willingness to resume his career.

Victory over the 6-foot-9(2.06-meter) Fury would unite all four heavyweight belts and constitute a crowning glory for the sublime Ukrainian, a former Olympic heavyweight champion.

"I'm sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet," Usyk told the crowd at the 12,000-seat King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah. "I'm convinced he wants to fight me. I want to fight him. If I'm not fighting Tyson Fury I'm not fighting at all."

An angered Joshua hurled down Usyk's belts and peppered his post-fight speech with expletives despite the presence of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Stepping back between the ropes and seizing the microphone, Joshua told the crowd: "I'm stealing this, Usyk, I'm sorry, but it's because of the passion we put into this."

Afterward, Joshua said of his outburst: "I just spoke from my heart. It has been so tough. It takes real strength and tonight there's a little crack in the armor."

The judges scored it 113-115, 115-113 and 116-112 for Usyk as Joshua narrowed the gap but was still found wanting.

"It was an incredible performance－he's just too good," said Joshua's promoter, Eddie Hearn.

"You saw the reaction from AJ, that was from a human who wanted to win so badly, with so much pressure on his shoulders. I think he just exploded because he lost and he was devastated."

Joshua is now staring at a crossroads in his career after his third defeat in his 12th straight title fight left him with figures of 24-3-0.

The Londoner's emotions were still running high when he told the post-match news conference: "I should have won. I adapted, I made the change that I needed to... it wasn't enough but I left everything in the gym. If I had left everything in the ring I would have won."

There was plenty of drama on the undercard too, with Chinese heavyweight Zhang Zhilei narrowly losing an enthralling IBF title bout to Filip Hrgovic.

Zhang dropped the Croatian with a right hook in the first, but after a seesaw 12-round battle, the judges somewhat controversially scored it 115-112 (twice) and 114-113 in Hrgovic's favor.

Earlier, Briton Ramla Ali knocked out the Dominican Republic's Crystal Garcia Nova in round one of the very first women's professional boxing match in Saudi Arabia.

AFP