Weekend Review: Usyk stops Fury again as Liverpool remain at the top

Oleksandr Usyk’s heavyweight fight against Tyson Fury dominated the headlines over the weekend as Liverpool remain Premier League leaders. 

It is not every year you get a pre-Christmas treat as a sports fan, but that was what happened last weekend as Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury gave us one last show for this year. 

The rematch of their heavyweight clash dominated the headlines last weekend. Every weekend, club football across Europe’s top leagues is always the major attraction, but football had to take the backseat for the battle between the two best fighters in their division. 

This is not to say there were no top football games in Europe’s domestic leagues as the likes of Real Madrid, AC Milan and Juventus were all victorious in their respective matches. 

Meanwhile, Manchester City and Manchester United’s poor run continued after losing to Aston Villa and Bournemouth, respectively. 

With that said, we take a look at some of the biggest talking points from last weekend in sports. 

Oleksandr Usyk stops Fury again 

After serving fans an epic in May, Usyk and Fury ran it back again as they took on each other in a highly anticipated heavyweight clash in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 

Fury came into the fight looking for revenge after Usyk won the first fight via a split decision. The Gypsy King was looking to avenge the sole loss of his career, while Usyk was hoping to prove once and for all that he was indeed the best heavyweight of his generation. 

The Ukrainian was the slight favourite coming into the clash but Fury’s weight, height and boxing ability made the fight too difficult to call. 

Fury started aggressively of the two fighters, taking control of the ring. The 36-year-old Brit was not ready to let Usyk dictate the pace of the fight, which was what happened when they first met in May. 

Fury did take the first couple of rounds, landing the jabs very well and hitting Usyk with some great body shots. However, as the fight went on, Usyk took the initiative, landing more clean shots. 

The two-division undisputed champions became the aggressor in the latter rounds and finished stronger than Fury. According to punch stats, Usyk landed 179 of 423 punches thrown (42%), a much higher percentage than Fury who landed 144 of his 509 punches thrown (28%),

Although there was no stoppage, the three judges were unanimous in their decision, awarding a 116-112 points win to Usyk. 

Fury did say he was surprised, saying he thought he won the fight by three rounds.

However, the Brit did not do enough even if the difference in the scorecards of the three judges was too high. 

Liverpool beat Spurs in a thriller 

It is official!!! Liverpool will go into Christmas as this season’s Premier League leaders after they thrashed Tottenham Hotspur 6-3 at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium. 

The Reds moved four points clear of Chelsea, who could not find a way past Everton in their clash earlier on Sunday. 

Liverpool fully deserved their win as they battered Ange Postecoglou’s men, who were once again poor at the back, no thanks to their manager’s tactics. 

Luis Diaz put Liverpool ahead with a superb cross before Mac Allister made it two. Although James Maddison pulled one back for Spurs, Dominik Szoboszlai ensured Liverpool went into the break with a two-goal cushion. 

The second half was more of the same as Mohamed Salah scored twice to make it 5-1. Spurs did manage to pull two back through Dejan Kulusevski and Dominic Solanke, but Diaz’s second in the 85th minute killed any little hope Spurs had left. 

Barcelona slump again 

Having suffered a disappointing and shocking loss to Leganes at home, the pressure was on Barcelona to beat Atletico Madrid in their clash last weekend. 

A title race which was theirs to lose has gone south in the last few games. But a win against Atletico, a direct title rival, would have given them the confidence boost ahead of the second half of the season.

But it turned out not to be so as they suffered another painful defeat on Saturday night. Barca did start well, taking the lead through Pedri in the 30th minute. Hansi Flick’s men had numerous chances to score more in the first half but could not take their chances. 

Their profligacy would come back to haunt them as Rodrigo De Paul levelled scores for Atletico before Alexander Sorloth struck the dagger in Barca’s heart with a 96th minute winner.