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Frank Warren believes the rematch between Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk will be even bigger.
This past weekend, Fury and Usyk battled it out over 12 rounds to determine the first undisputed heavyweight boxing champion in nearly 25 years. Usyk took home a split decision win, handing Fury the first loss of his professional boxing career. Immediately after, Fury denounced the decision, saying he felt like he deserved to win the bout, and even upon rewatch, his promoter, Frank Warren, believes he did as well.
“I watched it back — I’m biased,” Warren told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “How I scored the fight, I scored the first round to Tyson. I thought the second could have gone either way, probably a draw, and I thought Tyson won rounds 3, 4, 5, 6. … [Usyk] came out like a train in [Round 8]. He found a second wind or whatever that was … and took the fight to Tyson. Tyson got caught on the nose, he kept touching his nose … and he just lost a little bit of focus during that moment. He lost his composure a bit. Usyk won that round. Then Usyk 10-8 round for the ninth, he won the 10th and he won the 11th, but I thought Tyson won the 12th round.
“So for me, a couple of rounds maybe you debate. So I thought he just did it, or it was a draw, or you could look at a couple of those rounds, if I got those wrong, it was a round to Usyk. Whatever way you want to look at it, there was nothing in the fight. …
“But that’s my opinion. Everybody sees fights differently. You can only be honest.”
While the fight was considered by many to be an instant classic and among the best bouts of the year, one aspect did leave a bad taste with many viewers. Afterward, Fury suggested that Usyk only won the bout because his country Ukraine is at war, which earned Usyk sympathy with the judges. But Warren puts that down to the rigors of boxing and Fury’s bipolar disorder.
“In lots of sports, especially football, after the match, and there will be be some contentious issues taking place, they go to their dressing rooms and they don’t do the interview for 20 minutes later,” Warren said. “They go and get themselves composed, they probably think about things, and they come out and can do it with a cool and clear head.
“A boxer, who has gone to war like no other sportsman, dug so deep within himself, exhausted, 12 brutal rounds … you come back from that and get a microphone shoved up your nose asking you questions. … They say how it is. They don’t get any chance to compose themselves, not a minute. It’s straight from the heart, straight from the mind, and if somebody has a condition, and they say things, I’m afraid that’s what it is.”
Whatever the cause of his comments, Fury gets the chance to put that behind him as he and Usyk appear to be headed for a rematch. The contract for their bout including an immediate rematch clause, and Warren says that despite advising his charge to take some time off before deciding, “The Gypsy King” has already made up his mind on the matter.
“Immediately after, he said ‘I want the rematch,’” Warren said. “When we got out the ring, before we did the press conference … I just said to him, look, the rematch is signed. It was signed before the fight. It was part of the contract. So just think about it. Go back to your family. You’ve got plenty of time. No rush to say anything. That’s how it was, so at the press conference, that’s what he said. …
“On the Monday, I spoke to him, we both got back and I rang him up to see how he is: ‘How are you, champ? It was a great fight.’ … He said, ‘I want a rematch. Get it. I’m going. The rematch is on. It’s on. That’s it. That’s what I want.’ That’s Tyson Fury. He’s a fighter. He said, ‘I know I can beat him. I’ll beat him next time.’”
Rumors have already begun about the two possibly meeting for the rematch in October, but Warren was not ready to commit to that. However, Warren is confident that whenever the rematch does end up happening, it’s going to be bigger and more dramatic than the first encounter.
“One thing about it for sure, it was such a good fight, when the rematch happens, I think it will be bigger and better next time,” Warren said. “It’s going to be interesting to see what the fight has taken out of both boxers. Because I was in the dressing room with both boxers and you see them — I’ve been doing this for 47 years now. I can look at a guy and know how it’s affected him. Especially when fighters get a little bit older, how are they going to be? So especially if the rematch happens, which I believe it will, one of them or both of them will be effected by being in that battle. It was such a battle and it took a lot out of them.”
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