Lennox Lewis criticized Tyson Fury’s strategy against Oleksandr Usyk following Fury’s split-decision loss to the Ukrainian.
At 35, Fury lost his WBC title and his undefeated record to Usyk in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where his opponent became the first undisputed heavyweight champion of the four-belt era.
Usyk mounted a late comeback to clinch the victory, and Lewis – the last undisputed champion prior to this bout – remarked that Fury’s tactics were flawed.
“Fury was boxing like he won the fight,” Lewis said on DAZN.
“No boxer can judge and say they won the fight.
“Every time a round was close they should look at it like a loss.”
Two judges scored the fight in favor of Usyk, while the third judge had it 114-113 for Fury.
All three judges awarded rounds eight, nine, and ten to Usyk, as the momentum shifted in his favor following Fury’s strong start.
Fury taunted Usyk from the beginning, injuring his opponent in the sixth round before enduring a 10 count in the ninth.
Fury stated that he believed he was clearly ahead on the scorecards going into the final round.
“I was having fun in there. I was playing around. I was loving it. I thought I was bossing the fight,” he said of the showboating.
“If my corner would have said in the final round, go out and finish it, I would have – but we all thought we were up.
“In the first six rounds he maybe nicked one of them. It was close and I tried my best. I came up short.”