With such enormous stakes and purses on the line, it certainly wasn’t a surprise to hear Tyson Fury’s team protest the scoring of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.
All three of the judges scored the bout 116-112 in favor of the Ukrainian, which Frank Warren described as “nuts” in the ring; now, the veteran promoter is walking back some of his more egregious comments.
Frank Warren changes his tune after rewatching Usyk vs Fury rematch
Tyson Fury was quick to exit the ring after the judges’ score totals were revealed late into the December 21 evening, leaving promoter Frank Warren to give his breakdown of the result.
“I’m dumbfounded, they gave him four rounds out of the 12 rounds, it’s impossible,” the Queensbury Promotions head told DAZN: “It’s crazy. It’s a nonsense. What fight were they watching?
“I’m not saying this because I’m biased, but everyone along the front there all thought it went the same way… It’s nuts. It’s nuts, I don’t get it. I’m really disappointed with that. I thought he was in control of the fight and boxed extremely well.”
Speaking to BoxNation a few days later, Warren changed his tune regarding the scoring and whilst he still believes that Fury deserved to equal the rivalry at 1-1, he saw it as a far closer affair the second time around.
“I still feel that Tyson won it, I think it’s much closer than I thought the first time, but I still thought he won it.
“I watched it again, and a lot of people involved in the sport who I consider to be quite knowledgeable – I think I’m relatively knowledgeable having been doing it for 47 years and guided god knows how many champions in my time – I don’t see how one of the judges did not give Tyson one of the last seven rounds.”
Warren reaffirmed his belief that the decision not to award any of the final rounds to Tyson Fury was bonkers, although he doesn’t want Oleksandr Usyk to take any of his comments as personal.
“I cannot see that; I watched it back and the other two judges each gave him a round each. I don’t understand that. That’s my position, it’s not going to change the result, the result is what it is, but it is disappointing.
“It was a close fight, like the first fight was a close fight… I thought Tyson would be stopping him this time, but it didn’t happen. And I take my hat off to Usyk, I have nothing but respect for him as a boxer and nothing I say is against him, it’s just how I viewed the fight.”
Five options for Tyson Fury next, including Battle of Britain
Now that Oleksandr Usyk has improved to 2-0 over Tyson Fury, it remains unlikely that a trilogy bout will happen – so who could be next for ‘The Gypsy King’?
Undoubtedly the best option is a Battle of Britain showdown at Wembley Stadium against Anthony Joshua, who’s own scorecard ironically also raised one or two eyebrows.
Should Fury want to jump back into title contention as quickly as possible, he could take a fight against Daniel Dubois; dependent on the result of ‘Dynamite’ versus Joseph Parker in early 2025.
Arguably the ‘easiest’ route back to the top would be against Kubrat Pulev, although Bloody Knockout would much prefer a showdown against either Zhilei Zhang or Agit Kabayel – those two heavyweights are also scheduled to fight in February.