Boxing at The O2 (Photo : Getty Images)
British boxer Tyson Fury ended the reign of Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko in the heavyweight division on Saturday at the Esprit Arena in Dusseldorf, Germany, in an unexpected unanimous decision.
With his victory, the 27-year-old Fury improves his record to 25-0 with 18 KOs. But none of his previous 24 wins came against anyone such as his 39-year-old opponent who has now a record of 64-4 with 53 Kos, reports Boxing Scene.
He now holds the WBA, IBF and WBO titles, reports ESPN. Fury brings back the title to a Briton last held in 2011 by London boxer David Haye who lost his WBA heavyweight title to Klitschko on points. Fury ends Klitschko's long reign of nine years and six months, the second longest after Joe Louis who held the heavyweight title for 11 years and eight months. It was Klitschko's 19th title defense and first loss in 11 years.
Fury's win means there would be a Fury-Klitschko rematch as part of their agreement. Because Klitschko failed to knock out Fury to win, the basis of the decision were the scorecards which one judge placed at 116-111 and the two other judges gave an identical score off 115-112 in favor of Fury.
The new champ outlanded and outjabbed his opponent. Fury got 86 out of 371 or 23 percent. That averaged 7 punches landed for every 31 thrown per round. Fury's power shots were 48 of 202, or 24 percent connect rate, and his landing average was 4 of 17 per round.
On the other hand, Klitschko landed on 52 punches and threw only 231. His connect rate was 4 of 19, while only 18 of his 69 power punches connected at a rate of 26. Jabs were 34 of 162 or 21 percent connect rate.
