Usyk Vs. Fury 2 Results: Full Fight Card Results, Updates, Reactions

One of the most anticipated rematches in recent boxing history is here. Today, Saturday, December 21, at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oleksandr Usyk puts his WBO, WBC, and WBA heavyweight titles on the line against former champion Tyson Fury. We have live coverage of the entire fight card and will update the Usyk vs. Fury 2 results as they happen. The initial meeting between Fury and Usyk took place in May in the same arena where Saturday’s rematch will occur. At the time of that fight, Fury held the WBC title while Usyk owned the WBO, WBA, and IBF belts. Both men had unbeaten records with Fury checking in at 34-0-1, while Usyk had an unblemished 21-0 mark. The two put on one of the better heavyweight fights of recent memory that night. After 12 tightly contested rounds, the judges awarded the split decision to Usyk, making him the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis defeated Evander Holyfield in 1999. Check out what’s at stake for the Usyk vs. Fury 2 fight. When the fight opened, the two competitors looked to establish their attacks. For Fury, that meant fighting behind an active jab, and using his pronounced size advantage to keep Usyk to the outside. As for Usyk, his goal was to use his speed, volume, power, and movement to force Fury into corners, or at least against the ropes, where he could trap his foe and score with combinations. It didn’t help that Fury seemed a little too interested in playing to the crowd. The early rounds favored Usyk. As the fight progressed, Fury stepped up his output and sense of urgency and slowly took over. He kept the fight in the open more often than he allowed Usyk to push him to the ropes and used his jab to keep his opponent from scoring with his power. Usyk was far from ineffective in the middle of the bout. He was moving forward and landing to the body, but Fury was just better than him between rounds five and seven. Usyk changed his approach in the eighth round. He became more aggressive, walking Fury down. His punches, rising over his adversary's guard, left their mark on Fury’s face. Usyk’s attacking style paid dividends in the ninth round when a combination left Fury staggering around the ring. Several times it seemed as if the ropes were the only thing that saved the big man from toppling into the crowd or hitting the Kingdom Arena canvas. Then, with time ticking down, referee Mark Nelson signaled an official knockdown. By the time the ref administered the eight-count and checked if Fury could continue, time expired on the round. “I don't know why the referee gave a count. I understand they say if the ropes are keeping you up, that means if anybody is on the ropes getting hit the referee should jump in and give you a count. “I thought the ref should have let him either finish him off or stop the fight. It seemed like a fair and square stoppage from my point of view. “He was all over the place, he falls over. If it was around the other way, if Tyson Fury was doing this to Usyk the referee would have probably stopped it. “But for some reason the referee gave him a count and gave him a long 20-second count. “The referee stopped him from finishing his opportunity. Everybody at ringside was really upset at the referee.” Usyk didn’t take his foot off the gas for the rest of the fight. At the end of the battle the scorecards read 115-112 and 114-113 for Usyk, and 114-113 for Fury. Predictions and Picks for Usyk vs. Fury 2. According to DAZN, ring walks for the main event for the Usyk vs. Fury 2 fight card are expected to begin shortly before the scheduled fight time of 6:00 p.m. ET, fans should tune in around 5:50 p.m. ET for the ring walks for Usyk and Fury. "I'll just throw more this time," Fury said. "Keep hitting him in the face more often than I did last time. "I'm just going to box smart, box clever and if I catch him, get him out of there. Pretty similar to what I did last time. A little bit less clowning around and a bit more focus and that's it, really. "I did more clowning than anybody in any high-level fight's ever done. It's taken my focus away as well, so maybe a little less clowning and more focus on the actual victory. I was messing around too much in there.” "It wasn't so much what he did right,” Fury added. “It was me more fatigued than anything else, getting lackadaisical, you know what I mean? Throwing punches while I wasn't thinking about what I was doing. It wasn't for what he did was so great, it's what I did that was a mistake really. And that's it. "Against Fury, it wasn't me who decided this - it was the heavenly virtues who decided this was the way I would win [decision not KO]. But, if I have an opportunity to knock out Tyson Fury in the rematch, I will take it," Usyk said. We will update the Usyk vs. Fury 2 results and reactions as the fights take place.