# For the first time in 24 years, boxing has an undisputed heavyweight champ **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** boxing-wrestling-mma\ **Created:** [May 19, 2024, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753 "2024-05-19T03:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/1 "2024-05-19T03:08:01Z")
Tonight in Saudi Arabia, Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury via decision, making him the first man since Lennox Lewis to hold the lineal championship and the heavyweight titles of all four sanctioning bodies. > **[Ukraine’s Usyk beats Fury to become undisputed heavyweight boxing...](https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/18/sport/usyk-fury-undisputed-champion-intl-hnk/index.html)** > > Oleksandr Usyk scored a razor-thin split decision over Tyson Fury to become undisputed heavyweight boxing world champion in a thrilling contest at the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh in the early hours of Sunday morning. I don’t follow boxing very closely, but I’ve been wanting someone to take Fury down a peg for years now, so good for him. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/2 "2024-05-19T03:10:58Z")
Why Saudi Arabia? I was totally unaware of a big boxing tradition there. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/3 "2024-05-19T03:18:42Z")
They don’t, but they do have a growing tradition of [sportswashing](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sportswashing). ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/4 "2024-05-19T03:19:50Z")
The nobility has more momey than God and is more than willing to spend it to attract major sporting competitions to impress their citizens and keep them complacent. Same way they got Fury to wrestle at a WWE show in 2019. ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/5 "2024-05-19T05:48:42Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I don’t follow boxing very closely, but I’ve been wanting someone to take Fury down a peg for years now, so good for him. You might like this then (Fury getting hit): [![](https://i.imgur.com/SqYAqLb.png) ](https://i.imgur.com/SqYAqLb.png) ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/6 "2024-05-19T06:40:49Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > You might like this then (Fury getting hit) [![](https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-03-2016/bl7r2Z.gif) ](https://i.makeagif.com/media/5-03-2016/bl7r2Z.gif) ![](https://media4.giphy.com/media/x6P6mUdWqA2ek/giphy.gif?cid=6c09b9528vytktwa9mgn3vpito75tq9ovxhlcrygjef4hjfy&ep=v1_internal_gif_by_id&rid=giphy.gif&ct=g) ![](https://media1.giphy.com/media/4LZMbup5mwbZpugftYNG/200.gif) ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2024, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-the-first-time-in-24-years-boxing-has-an-undisputed-heavyweight-champ/1001753/7 "2024-05-19T08:29:15Z")
[ESPN recap here.](https://www.espn.com/boxing/story/_/id/40174185/oleksandr-usyk-edges-tyson-fury-split-decision-now-undisputed) Never a big boxing fan, but I’m kind of intrigued by this. From everything I’ve seen and heard about Tyson Fury, he’s Ranma Saotome without the crossdressing. Quick hands, lightning reactions, slick as a snake. Not the hardest hitter, but it’s next to impossible to land anything big on him, and anyone foolish enough to force the issue pays the price on the mat. A highly effective, if not especially glamorous, style. Anyone good enough to beat him would almost certainly have to be very sharp, very patient, and very opportunistic, _and_ have the stamina to run all over the ring for 12 rounds, and even then it was likely to be very close (which it was). All of a sudden I want to know…not _urgently,_ just open curiosity…who this Oleksandr Usyk is and how he was able to get to the top of the mountain. Any word on the street from someone who actually saw the fight?