Tyson Fury will knock out Oleksandr Usyk in the fourth round of their rematch come December 21 – according to a popular video game at least.
The ‘Gypsy King’ and the ‘Cat’ are set to run it back at the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia come Saturday (December 21) night in one of the biggest rematches in heavyweight boxing history. Usyk became the first undisputed champ at his weight class since Lennox Lewis in 1999 back in May when he beat Fury for his WBC world title – adding to his collection of WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO belts.
It was an incredibly close state of affairs between the two men, with the undefeated Ukrainian bolstering his professional boxing record to 22-0 via split decision when the judges had the bout 115–112, 114–113 and 113–114 in his favour. And the loss not only meant that Fury had missed out on undisputed greatness, but it also marked the first fight in which he had been beaten by any man.
Now sitting at 34-1-1, 36-year-old Fury will hope to atone for his loss in Riyadh seven months ago by exacting revenge on his 37-year-old opponent. And if video game Undisputed is anything to go by, then he will win in spectacular fashion when the two meet in the squared circle once more – albeit not claiming undisputed status after Usyk vacated his IBF belt.
That’s because we simulated a fight between the two men using the system, and Fury ran out as a convincing victor courtesy of a fourth-round knockout of his fierce rival. But how did the software come to this conclusion? And what did the fight look like as it unfolded?
The settings
In effort of making the simulation as fair as possible, we fine tuned the in-game settings ahead of the showdown. We first notched the AI difficulty of both fighters up to its highest setting of ‘undisputed’, set the game type to ‘simulation’ and moved the rounds up to 12 in total – as that is what Fury and Usyk will fight through come Saturday night.
We also set the venue to the Kingdom Arena in Saudi Arabia to make it as realistic as possible. We decided to turn off the ‘Saved By The Bell’ setting, as well as the ‘3 Knockdown Rule’, keeping the ‘damage’ and ‘stamina’ modifiers exactly where they were on a setting of one.
The ‘referee leniency’ was also left as a default five, while the maximum penalties slider also remained at a standard of three. With the settings tweaked and the popcorn at the ready, it was time to let the action unfold…
Round 1
Both fighters were eager to get off to a good start during the simulation, with Usyk perfectly placing hooks to the head and the body while gliding out of range and utilising slips and rolls. While Fury found some success with his jab, he was certainly outpointed by the Ukrainian.
Round 2
Fury found his way into the fight in the second round. Usyk slipped and caught the ‘Gypsy King’ with a corkscrew to momentarily daze him, but Fury responded with a hard right hook to the head – forcing the champion to back up and re-evaluate his game plan.
That went out the window moments later, however, with Usyk once again walking down his opponent, missing by inches during his exchanges. Fury started to mix in looping body shots to keep his foe thinking, and took the round by landing more shots and causing more damage.
Round 3
After a slow start to the round from both men, Usyk was caught with a lightning fast jab to the nose which flashed him slightly, pinning his guard high to weather the storm. A similar jab landed to the head of the champ split seconds after he dropped his guard in an effort to let his hands go, but he retaliated with a hard hook to the body which buckled Fury slightly.
The shot of the round came in the form of another clean right hook on Fury’s part, although Usyk remained on his feet for the time being. It was certainly a case of 2-1 Fury going into the fourth.
Round 4
The two men traded momentarily, with Usyk landing a hard uppercut before Fury found a home for his hooks once again. A slip back into an overhand right spelled disaster for Usyk.
He hadn’t fully managed to recover from the shot when a flush right hook landed clean on his chin and sent him spiralling to the canvas. No attempt was made to make it for the referee’s count, and it was all over as soon as the shot landed.
So there you have it, if Undisputed’s simulation is anything to go by, Fury will not only get his revenge on Usyk come Saturday night – but he will do it in emphatic fashion. And who knows…we might just see a trilogy fight come 2025 should the action unfold as predicted.