The judges’ official scorecard for Oleksandr Usyk’s historic victory over Tyson Fury has been revealed – and it’s sparked controversy on social media among boxing fans.
Usyk came out on top via split decision in Riyadh on Saturday night, edging past his rival on points after rocking him in the ninth round.
But after seeing the official scorecard, fans have labelled the judges ‘corrupt and embarrassing’, furious that Usyk was not given the victory by unanimous decision.
The Ukrainian started the slower of the two, with Fury initially showboating as he controlled the opening rounds, but Usyk came back into the fight after landing a series of significant blows on the Gypsy King.
Manuel Oliver Palermo of Spain, Craig Metcalfe of Canada and Mike Fitzgerald of the United States were the judges for the bout in Riyadh.
Oleksandr Usyk SD Tyson Fury official judges' scorecards… pic.twitter.com/IACOHyuhr2
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) May 18, 2024
The scorecards from Oleksandr Usyk’s historic victory over Tyson Fury have been revealed
Usyk won via split decision in a close contest that proved to be a fight of two halves in Riyadh
The scorecards revealed how Usyk had already won on points going into the final round
All three judges gave the opening round to Usyk, before Palermo and Metcalfe gave round two to Fury, with Usyk winning 10-9 according to Fitzgerald.
Palermo have the third and fourth rounds to Usyk, before five, six and seven were awarded to Fury as he started to dominate.
Metcalfe, meanwhile, awarded round three to Usyk, then four to seven to Fury, with Fitzgerald giving rounds three to seven to the loser.
Usyk then won the next four on the Spaniard’s card, including the 10-8 round in the ninth, meaning the card was out the reach of the ‘Gypsy King’ going into the last round.
Palmermo awarded Usyk the win overall by 115 points to 112.
Metcalfe, the only judge to award Fury the win, gave rounds eight to 10 to Usyk, including the knockdown, before the last two went to Fury, giving him what the Canadian judged to be a narrow victory, though his two colleagues disagreed with his take.
Those two cards were read out first by Michael Buffer, before Fitzgerald’s was revealed. He gave Usyk rounds eight to 11, meaning he had already won on the scorecards before the final round – bar a knockdown – which he awarded to Fury.
Fans could not believe that Metcalfe had awarded Fury the victory, labelling the decision ‘disgusting’ and ’embarrassing’.
One fan posted on X: ‘To think the ONE judge had fury winning is ridiculous. But even the disgusting corrupted judges couldn’t deny that Usyk smashed fury. Literally beat him at least 8-9 rounds.’
A second person, signing off their post with a laughing emoji, said: ‘Usyk robbed it should have been a majority decision, if it was in the UK he would have been robbed 100%.’
Boxing fans labelled the official scorecard ‘disgusting’ and ’embarrassing’ in a furious reaction
Boxing fans labelled one judge’s decision to award Fury the win ‘corrupt and embarrassing’, urging that the Ukrainian fighter should have won Saturday’s bout by unanimous decision
Another added: ‘Usyk won 1,2,8,9,10,11,12 and had a 10-8 in the 9th. Embarrassing judges but not surprised in the corrupt sport of boxing.’
‘Fury never won round 2 & 12 they tried to rob Usyk but failed,’ a fourth fan claimed.
After the fight, Fury insisted that he should have had his hand raised, telling DAZN: ‘I believe I won that fight, and I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won the majority of them.’
The Gypsy King then appeared to controversially claim that Usyk was shown favouritism by the judges because his homeland Ukraine is at war with Russia, adding: ‘I believe we both put on a good fight – best we could do. And, you know, his country is at war. People are siding with the country at war.’
