Hell in the ring soon re-visited

By James Blears

When you see, savour and appreciate Fight One between Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury, you truly understand and know, how they each earned a king`s ransom in the Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

It was desperately close high- drama and fluidly draining, demanding the greatest most exacting amount of courage, concentration, ingenuity, resolve and the unquenchable win to win, which never either faltered or flickered.

Diverse twists and turns, soaring highs and daunting lows. Skills and subtlety gained, garnered, accumulated and stored in the memory banks, over so many years in the amateurs and then further honed in the pro-ranks.  All leading to this primary culmination, in their astonishing and astounding performances, defined, distinguished and lauded for different reasons.

The sheer raw courage and astonishing recuperative power of Fury, fighting back magnificently from the brink of defeat, following the closing moments of a hellacious round nine and then composing himself to again gain plaudits in the championship rounds, wobbling Usyk, with a peach of a counter right in the final round.  Drama… right up to the very end!

Southpaw Usyk, always an elusive target, so Fury cunningly dug in a lot of sinking body shots, as the ribcage isn`t such an elusive moving target as the head.  That body of work, could, should and would have badly dented, affected plus significantly slowed a lesser mortal. But Usyk`s fantastic conditioning allowed him to weather those bunchers of crunchers.

Fury also clipped him with some well- timed right uppercuts, which he somehow unstintingly took. For a gigantic man, Fury has surprisingly quick hands and is agile as well as nimble. No mean feat to cart around a six feet nine inches frame of two hundred and sixty- two pounds for twelve gruelling rounds.

Also, not easy for a man of Usyk`s respectable size, to dodge and parry an eighty- five inch wingspan reach, from an opponent looming and towering six inches over him. In Imperial measurements that`s half a foot, even when they aren`t toe to toe!

The key to their rematch for the WBC, and two others, yet not the IBF version which Usyk relinquished to fight this second bout, lies embedded in what transpired in and during their first encounter.

The winner of the rematch, must and will adapt better and learn more effectively from what`s gone before. The black and blueprint is already mapped out.

Again, it will be in the same stadium in The Saudi Capital. Can we but hope for the same quality, ‘’High Sierra Drama’’ and ‘’Treasure of the Sierra Madre Thrills?’’ Gold dust, with these two contesting it…the answer is most assuredly YES!

When they recently met at the Guildhall in London, for a pressing engagement, Oleksandr asked Tyson to sign a photo of that already iconic left hook during round nine.  Tyson complied with good natured alacrity.  During the proceedings he tickled Oleksandr.  Fancy that!

There`s a residue and now a reservoir of deep mutual respect between the two. They`ve already tested each other to the limit and know the capstan lashing capabilities/capacities involved.  During Fight one, Usyk collected a small but deep cut just over his right eyebrow which his corner staunched well and effectively dealt with. While a mouse swelled under Fury`s right eye. But that wasn`t the worst of the tale.

In round eight, Usyk caught him with a smarting left hook smack on the nose.  It must have hurt like crazy and it visibly shook up, ruffled plus unsettled Fury. Blood started pouring out of his nostrils, he kept dabbing at it and he ended the round with his face masked by blood. Boxing claret.

Usyk had started the bout more briskly and was more effective in its early stages. That was until Fury warmed up and warmed to his task. From the fourth onwards his timing and ring generalship was superior, until the eighth, when Usyk pressured, harassed and harried him, not giving him a moment of respite or an opportunity to either contemplate his next move or take a breather.

The ninth was a watershed or an outhouse of a round, during which Usyk launched a blistering onslaught.  It started with a pinpoint left hook to the head, immediately and immaculately followed up by another.  To his credit, although he was buzzed, Fury rallied and fought back. But then another left hook found the mark and Usyk was bang on target with a blockbuster left which so very nearly upended Fury.

He swayed Like a pine in an Alpine avalanche.  A primeval roar from the crowd and Usyk was in hot pursuit.  Another monumental left catapulted Fury into the ropes, He swayed giddily across the ring and his legs buckled.

Referee Mark Nelson stepped in to administer a standing eight count.  At this point, Fury was at his lowest point and nadir.  On cotton wool pins. He responded to The Referee`s question of whether he was all right, with a curt grim nod.  Frankly he looked almost done.  But…seconds later, the bell rang, saving him.

So easy to say it could have been all over then and there.  Prior to this, punch cascade which he somehow weathered and still remained on his feet, courtesy of the four sturdy ropes, Tyson Fury had been knocked down seven times in his pro career.  Yet each time, mostly against Deontay Wilder, he had somehow maintained his wits, kept them about him, dug deep and got up.  It takes a very special type of man to be able to do this.  That`s why boxers deserve their wage packets…every penny!

Usyk, had expended a monumental, humongous, titanic effort and energy expenditure, to launch this sustained attack. It surely and assuredly took something out of him, taking its toll.  Somehow Fury found a way back and he fought back.

After the final bell rang, they embraced. Each kissed the other. They praised each other and there was a visible outpouring of mutual respect. A tidal wave of relief.  It had been a fantastic fight, so very worthy of the four belts at stake. Something we had to wait quarter of a century to witness.

Thank you Sheik Turki for enabling this to happen.

Undisputed in the heavyweight division was Last achieved quarter of a century ago by Lennox Lewis, in the final year of the departing century. That was ‘’The Year of The Lion.’’

One Judge saw it for Fury, two others viewed it as Usyk`s marginal eye of the needle victory, gained from the eye of a storm. It could have gone either way. The decisive eye watering factor was enwrapped in that rapping, enrapturing ninth.

Before fight one started, Oleksandr Usyk`s face was a study of focused concentration. Prior to round nine his gazed upward to the Heavens, muttered a prayer and crossed himself.

Tyson Fury`s confidence always brims over and we saw flashes of bravado and showboating. They were sparing, better kept for sparring, yet few and far between in this fight, as during it, there was plenty of food for thought and scant time for play acting.

Since that fabled night In the Kingdom, TF has said: ‘’He`s a good boxer and He is is a heavyweight.  He can punch hard, but there are different levels of power. One man can switch you off like a TV, while another can hit and hurt you and wear you down.

‘’I have to be a bit more smart, to get victory. With my re-matches I always end up knocking them out. So, I`m envisaging something similar against Usyk.’’

Oleksandr knows he had Tyson teetering on the brink, So near, yet so far.  When round thirteen starts, we will definitely and definitively see, who has learned the lessons most effectively and who possesses the greater willpower from within, to fight to the end with might, to gain and garner…The Ultimate Glory…for the Gypsy King, or will it be The Year of The Cat, just four days before Christmas?