Usyk v Fury 2.
I could buy this, but I’ve decided to listen to it on BBC radio.
It’s end of round 3 and Tyson Fury is lighting up the commentator. Walking Usyk down, backing him up. He‘s at least 2 rounds up.
I’ve also given myself a second screen challenge: watching Taylor Swift’s Eras tour concert on Amazon Prime. Why? My kids are asleep and I’ve decided to make the most of it.
Usyk takes round 4? Who knows.
End round 7. Fury is 281 pounds!! 130kg. Tiring. Usyk about 100kg.
Damn this commentator is descriptive. Fury blowing. Gassing? Still punching. Backed up by an inaccurate Usyk.
If you don’t know boxing, both fighters are really, really good. Weight matters a lot. Usyk at a big disadvantage. Both incredibly smart. It’s poetic. 2 men trying to chop the other down like a tree.
Then there’s the crowd, the lights, the occasion: they’re in Saudi Arabia. It’s 2.15am there. For my convenience. But US convenience more.
Gary Henderson, my first and best playwrighting tutor told me about a band he might have been in, where creative dilemmas were solved by the drummer versus songwriter punching it out. Whoever physically dominated creatively won. As good a method as any.
It means something. To physically dominate another. It is a form of argument. As good if not better than winning with words.
I don’t love war, but I respect it. Usyk’s Ukrainian compatriots will be or not be a nation depending their ability to physically intimidate the Russians. Their beef will not be resolved with words.
Usyk is fighting hard. Fury is tiring in the championship rounds. The downside of carrying extra weight. But it’s in the balance.
Last round: combinations from Usyk. Fury needs to find his legs. Turns southpaw. Mauling Usyk. Usyk backing up Fury. Left crosses, right jabs. Suffered by Fury.
An untidy tangle. A decision to come. A terrific contest. Absorbing. Ebb and flow. The judges (one from Panama???) to decide.
The commentators think it could go either way. 114-114.
How good would a trilogy be? 3rd fight? That’d make a ton of money.
💰
All 3 judges scored it 116-112
Usyk!!!
Fucking hell.
What a fight.
The commentators disagree.
Taylor is singing “Out of Style”
I first heard this song properly when Ryan Adams covered it.
https://youtu.be/JSyus3HlQPI?si=avng-sHa6OnZJUly
Now I think Taylor got it right first time round.
How do you judge a fight like that?
In culture? The first? Or most powerful?