Carl Frampton has urged Tyson Fury to rematch Oleksandr Usyk after seeing him “throw away victory”.

Usyk won his undisputed heavyweight title fight in Riyad, Saudi Arabia – where Frampton was ringside – but to do so he had to come from behind after a challenging first six rounds.

He threatened to stop previously undefeated Furia in a dramatic ninth round, but both fighters entered Saturday’s fight with contract clauses that would force a rematch at the end of 2024, increasing the likelihood that they will fight again.

When Fury spoke in the ring after the fight, he spoke about his belief that he, not 37-year-old Usyk, deserved to win, and also stated that he wanted a rematch. When he then spoke at the post-fight press conference, he was reluctant to reveal his plans and, after long preparations for the biggest fight of his career, instead talked about resting before deciding on his next move.

Ahead of his first fight against Deontay Wilder in 2018 – previously the biggest he had been involved in – Fury appeared on the undercard of Frampton’s victory over Luke Jackson at Windsor Park in Belfast when he passed Francesco Pianeta, with Frampton saying: “I think that he can win the rematch. I think he turned the fight down.

“I don’t want to hurt Usyk – he won. Halfway through the distance, they approached me as an expert and I had my fourth fight [rounds to] two to Fury. Usyk was injured on the body; he went into some uppercuts. I indicated that it would be challenging for Usyk to come back and I didn’t really see a way to do it, but he dug deep and did exactly that, and I gave Usyk the fight for a round – six rounds each and a ‘knockdown’ was the difference for me.

If he does win, I still think he’s a must-have as one of the top heavyweights [ever]. Either way, he would definitely be among the top ten greatest heavyweights. If she beats him in the rematch, it will be a massive fight and it will be another fight if she beats him in the rematch because both of them are not like Leo Santa Cruz – they want to settle scores, not just [having won] one by one.

“I love Usyk. I love everything about him – he’s a phenomenal fighter.

“AND [also] I think it was good for [Fury] be delicate. Performance was high. That suited him.

It was in the days before the retired Frampton’s victory over Jackson of Australia that it became clear that Fury – at this stage just one fight away from returning after almost three years of inactivity, during which he became suicidal, abused drugs and alcohol and rose to approximately 30 – He was next scheduled to fight the fearsome Wilder.

If fighting one of the most unsafe boxers in history represented a significant and premature risk that could end his comeback, then his participation at the age of 35 in the first undisputed heavyweight title fight since Lennox Lewis and Evander Holyfield in 1999 was again more than justified a risk that ultimately became one of the most vital chapters of one of the most fascinating stories.

“I was surprised,” Frampton reflected on his reaction to the news in August 2018. “He didn’t look impressive in any of the fights he had before Wilder after a long layoff. I knew he was a brave man, but I was surprised.

“The first fight, of course, ended in a draw, but the whole world knew that Fury won the fight. But [I was] surprised that he was fighting a guy like Wilder at this stage – for both careers – and in my opinion beat him.

“There was a lot of hype about Wilder’s presence [in Belfast]and about Fury. I really thought it was probably too early for him, but he proved me wrong and as he said before this fight, he’s up to the challenge and he did it against [in 2015, Wladimir] Klitschko; he did it in three fights with Wilder.

“Other fights, e.g [Derek] Chisora; [Dillian] Whyte, he does all the work. When the pressure is on on massive, vital nights, he rises to the occasion. If he gets a chinlock then [against Wilder in December 2018]I think the comeback has already come.

“It’s an incredible journey that Fury has been on. Wilder’s fights, and even if Chisora ​​and Whyte weren’t the ideal opponent, they were massive fights in vast stadiums. The Usyk fight is probably the biggest fight of my life; the biggest one I have ever participated in as a broadcaster [for TNT Sports]. I was buzzing about it – absolutely buzzing.

“It’s been an amazing journey – it really has been. Look at his state at one point after Klitschko’s massive victory when he really went crazy. He grew taller, out of shape and as if he would never fight again, and looking at how bad he looked back then, the change was phenomenal. I believe he is one of the greatest heavyweights who ever lived – truly. He could compete – you could argue he could beat anyone who ever lived in the heavyweight division.

“It’s weird [that so significant a fighter fought on my undercard]. It’s one you can tell your grandchildren about, you know what I mean? “Fury fought on my card.” He will be remembered. To say he fought for me with the main support at Windsor Park – huge.

One of the greatest rivalries in the history of mixed martial arts will begin again next month.

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will face Chael Sonnen in a boxing bout on June 15 in Brazil, the Spaten Fight Night promotion announced on Sunday. Silva, 49, teased the end of his career earlier this week, claiming his last fight would take place next month in his native Sao Paulo.

Sonnen (47) confirmed his participation on social media.

“Oh, Anderson, yoohoo,” Sonnen said. “It’s me again. See you on June 15.”

Silva (34-11) and Sonnen (30-17-1) created one of the most memorable two-fight rivalries in UFC history. Silva was in the midst of a UFC-record 16 straight wins when he met Sonnen in 2010. The outspoken title challenger from West Linn, Oregon was a massive underdog entering his first UFC 117 meeting.

Sonnen shocked the world for 23 minutes of the fight, dominating Silva with takedowns and ground strikes before Silva secured a back triangle choke. The UFC is scheduled to induct the fight into its Hall of Fame in delayed June.

They met again two years later at UFC 148 in a blockbuster rematch in Las Vegas. Silva knocked out Sonnen with a knee to the chest after Sonnen lost his balance, throwing a spinning back fist.

Silva left the UFC in 2020, but has since boxed professionally four times. He has a 2-1-1 record in the ring, with his only defeat coming to Jake Paul via decision in 2022. Sonnen retired from MMA in 2019 after five appearances with Bellator MMA. The former collegiate wrestler has never boxed professionally.

In 2010, Silva was widely considered the greatest fighter of all time, but Sonnen’s ability to promote the rivalry with trash talk about the Brazilian legend helped propel him to stardom.

Teddy Atlas thinks the judges did a great job [at least two of them] rightfully so, giving Oleksandr Usyk a 12-round split decision victory over Tyson Fury in their undisputed heavyweight fight in Riyad.

Atlas came close but felt IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk (22-0, 14 KO) fought well in the championship rounds after hurting Fury (34-1-1, 24 KO) in the ninth round. Teddy says he was close to being arrested. Fury’s talisman worked this round.

Did the referee throw Fury a lifeline?

“It was a very close fight but he stormed the goal all the way and you could argue that if the referee doesn’t step in he will stop him in this round [ninth]” said boxing analyst Teddy Atlas BoxNationdiscussing Oleksandr Usyk’s victory over Tyson Fury.

Fury was on the verge of stopping the action by the referee. Fans still believe the referee messed up when he gave 35-year-old Fury a standing eight because he was still upright and took a penalty from Usyk.

Let’s put it this way: how often do you see a referee step in and stop the action to give a fighter an eight when he’s on the brink of being knocked out?

Of all the notable fights that took place on Saturday night, how many of them involved the referee giving a count of eight to a struggling fighter when he was just seconds away from being knocked out? For something like this to happen in a Fury-Usyk fight involving popular A-team fighter Fury looked suspicious to the boxing public.

I know you could call it a knockout. The ropes kept him on his feet, but it was very close to stopping the fight,” Atlas said of Fury. “The most critical thing is him [Usyk] he won all the overdue rounds when he hurt him. The last two rounds were close.

Usyk wins, but it was close

“Give a lot of credit to Fury. He showed a lot of championship heart and resilience to get close in the last two rounds, but in the end I think they succeeded. The 10-8 round was very critical to be able to get two points,” Atlas said.

The only reason Fury was able to fight reasonably well in rounds 10, 11 and 12 was because Usyk wasn’t going to the finish like he should have. He let Fury off the hook and it almost came back and bit him in the ass.

“Not only did he win those rounds at the end, but he also won one the way he did and then won the rounds after that to keep the momentum going. Like I said, it was really close in the last two rounds because Fury came back in those last two rounds to get close. But I thought they got it right,” Atlas said of the judges.