Tyson Fury vs Oleksandr Usyk is now just four days away – the excitement is unbearable with the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world up for grabs.
For the first time in the four-belt era, and the first time period since Lennox Lewis in 1999, one man alone should come away from Riyadh on Saturday night in charge of boxing’s marquee weight class.
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Both men boast unbeaten records in the professional ranks, Fury with a stellar 34-0-1 resume including two-time heavyweight champion and undisputed cruiserweight and unified heavyweight king Usyk at 21-0.
But of course the stories for the man mountain from Morecambe and the genius from Ukraine did not begin there – both fought in the amateurs before that. And both tasted defeat – it was just a long, long time ago.
Usyk had by far the more extensive grounding before he turned over in 2013 – posting an incredible 335-15 record which culminated in Olympic gold at London 2012. Fury meanwhile was 31-4 before he joined the paid ranks.
One of these two men will likely suffer a loss on Saturday night (don’t forget the draw though) but let’s look at the last time it happened.
Tyson Fury last defeat
Fury suffered four defeats in the amateurs in a relatively short career, but it is worth pointing out he was very very young at the time. He was only 20 years of old when he made his pro debut on the Carl Froch vs Jean Pascal undercard in Nottingham in December 2008.
Before that though Fury tasted defeat four times in the amateurs, including a disputed loss to massive Liverpool heavyweight David Price.
His final loss as an amateur though came against Russia’s Maxim Babanin in the 2007 European Junior Championships in Sombor, Serbia. Fury went down 24-11 on the scorecards, but he still did come away from the Games with a silver medal.
Oleksandr Usyk last defeat
Usyk’s amateur CV – as already detailed – was utterly spectacular. Some 335 wins against 15 defeats. Ending in Olympic glory in London.
You have to go back all the way to 2009 to find his last defeat in any kind of boxing competition, and it came at the World Championships in Milan, Italy.
Usyk came up against Russian Egor Mekhontsev in the semi-finals and slipped to a 14-10 defeat on the scorecards. He would go home with a bronze medal before claiming golds for the remainder of his amateur career.
