Tony Bellew still put on a solid performance in the loss.
Oleksandr Usyk (16-0, 12 KOs) came out extremely measured in the opening round as he felt his challenger out. He barely let his hands go at all over the first three minutes while Tony Bellew (30-3-1, 20 KOs) took it on a couple body shots. The heavily favored Ukrainian came out with an increased intensity in the second round. He just wasn’t the better fighter in it. Tony Bellew calmly worked him upstairs and down to jump out to a surprising early lead in the highly anticipated fight. The British challenger was really keeping Usyk at bay with the threat of his counters. The third was more competitive. Oleksandr landed an excellent combination in the middle, but overall Tony Bellew was still landing more clean shots both to the head and body. His ability to reach and time Usyk was quite unexpected.
A huge overhand left reminded everyone of Oleksandr Usyk’s ability to open the fourth. Tony took it well though. In fact, he pulled the champion to the ropes and got a good one back of his own a minute later. Still, it was the Ukrainian’s round for the first time on my card. His activity was finally up to winning the round. The fifth was a notably difficult one to score. Usyk’s jab and footwork really started to come into play like it normally does. Yet, despite his activity, Bellew landed the few big blows in the round. I gave it to Oleksandr on more time controlling the action, but it could have gone either way. The sixth was similar. Tony closed it strong too, but he didn’t land as much in round five and I didn’t feel conflicted about choosing to score it for Oleksandr.
I had the fight even through six.
The fight had settled into something closer to a traditional Usyk fight by the seventh. He kept up the front foot pressure and worked his jab. It was a slower pace than he normally works at, but he clearly had respect for the power coming back. Bellew was almost entirely neutralized in the round.
The fight really started falling apart on him in the eighth too. That is what I was typing as Usyk knocked Bellew out near cold on a huge straight left. It was one of many he landed in the round too. The final frame proved to be a beating before the one left hand put Tony down and partly through the ropes. The accumulation helped set up the finish that suddenly seemed inevitable as Usyk clearly figured out the footwork to land his straight left. It came shortly after.
Tony Bellew was clearly devastated in the corner after the finish, but there is no need for him to feel that way. He put on a much better performance than anyone expected. Post fight the men continued their respectful interactions in the middle of the ring as Usyk raised Bellew’s hand to acknowledge the tough challenge that he presented. They praised each other in the post fight interview as well.
