TYSON FURY has admitted his showboating cost him the Oleksandr Usyk undisputed fight.
Ukraine’s 37-year-old southpaw mastermind has a habit of losing the early rounds, as he works out his opponent, just ask Derek Chisora and Tony Bellew who both raced into leads against him.
But instead of using his 3st and 6in height advantages to bully Usyk from the off, Fury played up to the Riyadh crowd and didn’t bank the beginning clearly.
Rounds four to seven were a huge success for the 35-year-old Morecambe giant, who battered Usyk with uppercuts and hooks to the body.
But his world flipped over in round eight when his nose was smashed with a left hand and in the ninth he was flattened and showed superhuman strength - once again - to drag his giant frame off the floor and finish another iconic fight.
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Fury’s fame-hungry father John rightly bore the brunt of the blame for his son losing the split decision - after shouting over trainers Sugarhill Steward and Andy Lee in the corner and telling his son to throw light punches and coast along in the final couple of rounds.
But the rebuilding former WBC boss, who gets a revenge mission on December 21, accepts FOOL responsibility for playing the class clown.
“I thought I boxed his head right off him for most of the rounds,” he told his Furocity drinks firm.
“He landed a good punch in round reight, that busted my nose. In round nine he had a 10-8 round, and I gave him round ten.
“Other than that I didn’t give him any other rounds, I gave him rounds eight, nine and ten.
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"But round nine is classed as two, so I gave him four rounds of the fight. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, a lot easier.
“People were saying he is a hard man to hit but I was lighting him up with three-and-four-punch combinations and laughing at him.
“My problem in that fight was that it was probably too easy.
“At times it was too easy, it was like I was in there with a local amateur boxer and I was enjoying it too much and messing around.
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"And for that I paid the ultimate price in round nine when I had too much fun and got clipped.
“I was always told ‘never mix your work with having fun’ and I always gave my middle finger up to that - but now it has come back to bite me. I still enjoyed it, thought, it was all good.”
The only judge who scored the split decision in Fury’s favour was Canadian Craig Metcalfe, who has a long-running relationship with the same WBC sanctioning body that Fury has made millions of pounds for.
The Brit ace was also lucky to retain his undefeated record in previous close calls with John McDermott way back in 2009 and Francis Ngannou last year, so it’s a surprise to hear him raise concerns about the integrity of the officials for the first Usyk clash - and the December 21 rerun.
He explained: “I have watched the fight back lots of times and still have the same answer, I thought I did enough and won the fight. Usyk knows he didn’t beat me.
“It was close enough, one judge had me winning by a round and one judge had him winning by a round. And then the final one made the decision.
“I have to get him out of there because I won’t get a decision, which is unfortunate because it’s hard enough to win a fight, let alone winning it when you have yo knock someone out.
“But I am confident and looking forward to the challenge.”
