Usyk vs. Fury was what the sport was missing: heavyweight championship boxing at the highest level.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Boxing has always been powered by the heavyweight division, and for 24 and a half years multiple male fighters have held the rights to the sport's highest prize money.

The sport endured the long but sometimes uneventful reign of unified champion Wladimir Klitschko, who lacked a suitable opponent (other than his younger brother Vitali, who for obvious reasons never fought). ).

Tyson Fury ended Klitschko's run as champion in 2015, but even Klitschko was not the undisputed champion. Fury has yet to capture one of boxing's four – yes, four – major titles. On Sunday, in front of a sold-out and enthusiastic crowd at the Kingdom Arena, Fury faced Kirchko's compatriot, former undisputed cruiserweight champion and Olympic gold medalist Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine, in a four-rounder. I tried to get all the belts.

Fury (34-1-1, 24 KOs) appeared to be making good progress through the first half of a back-and-forth battle. He threw his hands back and played to the crowd as he dodged Usyk's punches. “The Gypsy King” grabbed the ropes in the corner and dodged several shots in the opening round, evading the great Muhammad Ali. Fury grinned as Usyk landed a few solid body punches and went down.

Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) didn't care. He never allowed Fury's patented mind games to affect him during the promotion leading up to this night, and the 37-year-old wasn't going to let that happen now. His 114-113, 115-112, 113-114 split decision victory established him as boxing's top heavyweight.

“the [a] It's a huge opportunity for me, for my family, for my country, for history,” said Usyk, who is ranked No. 3 on ESPN's pound-for-pound rankings. [a] Wonderful day. “

Ukrainians fighting for their war-torn homeland continued to fight. He applied pressure skillfully, eventually breaking through with an overhand left in the ninth round that staggered Fury. Thirteen more unanswered shots landed, the last of which sent Fury crashing into the ropes and resulting in a cold down. And Fury, 35, beat the count and continued to fight, just as he has done the previous seven times.

This was exactly what the sport was missing – heavyweight championship boxing at the highest level. It was a fight worthy of an absolute champion. The trilogy bout between Fury and Deontay Wilder, named ESPN's 2021 Fight of the Year, showed boxing skill, heart and courage.

Even better, watch it again. When Turki Alarusik, head of the Saudi Arabian Entertainment Authority, terminated the contract for this fight, he made it a two-fight deal. The rematch is scheduled for October 12th. Usyk later went to the hospital for an MRI, but promoter Alexander Krasyuk told ESPN there is “no doubt” he will be ready for his October return.

Given what boxing fans witnessed this night, there's no doubt that the encore matchup will be even more anticipated than the first.

“I think I won the fight but I'm not going to sit here and cry or make excuses,” England's Fury said. “I think he won some rounds but I won the majority of them. What can you do? We both fought well, we did the best we could.”

Indeed, even if it wasn't enough, Fury was exceptional this night. He just met a better guy in Usyk who proved to be one of the all-time greats.

Even Terrence Crawford, ESPN's No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, believes Usyk has a reason to dethrone him.

“Well, you should be a little more respectful.” [Usyk] Man,” Crawford wrote in X after the game. “He's definitely a contender for the number one P4P fighter in the world. I don't hate him. He defeated a guy who beat that guy in a bigger division and accomplished what he's already accomplished. Salute bro!”

Olympic gold medalist. The undisputed cruiserweight champion. And now, he is the world's only heavyweight champion.