Gallery: 2/8
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Tyson Fury pulled off what many will remembered as one of the biggest boxing upsets of the year by outpointing longtime world heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko on Saturday to lift the WBA, IBF, WBO, IBO, and RING Magazine titles on Saturday in front of over 40,000 fans at the ESPRIT arena in Düsseldorf, Germany.
At the end of 12 lackluster rounds, the judges handed out a unanimous decision to the British challenger, their scorecards reading 115-112, 115-112, and 116-111 all for Fury.
In a humanitarian fight that saw little action from either participants, Fury (25-0, 18 KOs) was able to put together an effective piece of sloppy boxing that neutralized a reluctant Klitschko (64-4, with 53 KOs) with constant ring movement and awkward rhythm.
“This is a dream come true,” Tyson said from the ring after the fight. “We’ve worked so hard for this. It’s been six months, I left everything in the gym for this. I just can’t believe that I’ve done it. It’s hard to come to a foreign country to get a decision. When that fight ended, I didn’t think I was going to get it. ”
Klitschko pressed the action from the opening round and followed the rangy Fury around of the ring for most of the fight (when they weren’t clinching anyway), but he was unable to get a fix on Fury nor to pull the trigger on any meaningful punches.
Fury was on the move from go. Making the most of the real estate and using his reach advantage and footwork to control the distance and the action. A boxer apt in both southpaw and orthodox stance, Fury stayed in the conventional stance for most of the fight and got the better of his rival when inside the clinch.
CompuBox numbers backed up the judges’ decision. They had Fury landing 86 of 371 (23%), and Klitschko 52 of 231 (23%).
Watch as Fury catches Wlad with a flush left hook:
With the defeat, 39-year-old Wladimir Klitschko, stops his unbeaten streak at 22 fights since his last previous defeat at the hands of Lamon Brewster in 2004, and ends his nine-year reign as a titleholder-– second only to Joe Louis’s record of 11 years.
Tyson Fury, a 27-year-old from Wilmslow, United Kingdom who had last been in action last in action with four stoppages in a row– over Christian Hammer, Dereck Chisora, Joey Abell, and Steve Cunningham, now extends his unbeaten streak to 25 fights.
And now the moment we were all waiting for…no Fury victory is complete without a little serenade from the new champ: