Turki Alalshikh posted on social media today, discussing his earlier comment from last night. In an interview, he remarked that he felt unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk had won by four points in his victory over Tyson Fury in their rematch in Riyadh. Usyk won the fight by a 12-round unanimous decision to retain his three titles. The scores were 116-112, 116-112, and 116-112.
Alalshikh said that when he’d said that he saw Usyk (23-0, 12 KOs) winning by four points, he didn’t mean that a bad thing for Fury (34-2-1, 24 KOs) on he’d performed in the contest. He said that Fury had given “everything” in the fight but that Usyk was one of the “greatest boxers in this generation, and he proved it.”
Turki says that Fury still occupies a place in his heart and is why the sport thrives. He’ll wait for Fury’s decision on whether to retire or continue fighting, and he says he’ll work with Fury if he chooses to continue.
As for Usyk. Turki says they’ll wait until the results of the February 22nd fight between IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois and Joseph Parker to decide his next fight.
“Usyk just seemed to close out the rounds a bit stronger. He was smarter by working the last minute or the last 30 seconds of the rounds,” said Dillian Whyte to iFL TV, talking about the Fury vs. Usyk 2 rematch.
“In close fights, the judges remember what they see in the last part of the rounds. They mark their scorecards down quickly for what they see in the last minute,” said Dillian, guessing why the judges were giving Usyk rounds.
“No, it’s the other way around,” said Whyte when told that Fury said he won the fight by three rounds. I think Fury won the first three rounds, and after that, Usyk won most of the middle rounds. Then Fury won one more round. I think Fury won four rounds. It was such a close fights. It was hard to score.”
