By John Evans FIGHT OF THE YEAR
FROM ELITE-LEVEL TACTICAL BATTLES TO BRUTAL SLUGFESTS, 2024 WAS HIGHLIGHTED BY SEVERAL DRAMATIC NIP-AND-TUCK CONTESTS
As with all great fights, momentum swung one way and then the other. Usyk started quickly, but Fury warmed to his task and began to assert himself through the middle rounds. The tide appeared to be turning conclusively in Fury’s favor when he rocked Usyk with a pair of damaging uppercuts in the sixth, but the mercurial Ukrainian refused to buckle and produced his now customary lung-bursting, late- round surge. The ninth was one
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round, and both men were forced to go to places they had never been before in a bruising, grueling battle. A badly cut nose left Wardley battling through a mask of
WBO belts on the line while Fury added his WBC title to the pot in the first undisputed heavyweight championship fight of the century.
of the most dramatic rounds of the year. Usyk badly hurt Fury, who spent almost 30 seconds stumbling from corner to corner before the referee
1. RAYMOND FORD TKO 12 OTABEK KHOLMATOV March 2, Turning Stone Resort Casino, Verona, New York Heavy-handed Otabek Kholmatov wasn’t used to opponents standing up to his thudding power shots. But Raymond Ford was different. After being hurt in the second and third rounds, Ford made the brave decision to take the fight to the previously unbeaten Uzbek. Southpaw matchups generally don’t produce the kind of fireworks that Kholmatov and Ford delivered during their 12-round battle for the vacant WBA featherweight title. Ford absorbed more than his share of straight left hands, but the approach forced Kholmatov to work at an uncomfortable pace. Despite being buzzed repeatedly
2. FABIO WARDLEY SPLIT DRAW 12 FRAZER CLARKE March 31, 2024, O2 Arena, London The unlikely rivals fought each other to a standstill in a classic British heavyweight title fight. Pre-fight opinions were split on who would prevail. For every person who believed that Wardley’s power and greater professional experience would give him the edge, there was somebody who assumed that Clarke’s Olympic bronze medal and extensive amateur background would prove too much to overcome for a man who cut his teeth on the white-collar fighting circuit. A fight broke out from the opening bell. Although Clarke tried to work behind his jab, Wardley proved impossible to tame and would explode in violent bursts. Battle lines were drawn by the time Clarke was floored in the fifth
weathered the storm and seized the initiative back at a crucial point when he got on top of a bloody Ford during a back-and-forth 11th. The American had other ideas. Rather than boxing his way to the final bell and leaving his fate with the judges, Ford took matters into his own hands. As the clock wound down, he found a well-timed right uppercut that seemed to sap every remaining ounce of energy from his opponent’s legs. As Kholmatov tottered around the ring, Ford kept chasing and punching. Fewer than 10 seconds remained when referee Charlie Fitch finally stepped between the fighters and stopped the action. After the fight, it came to light that Ford was behind on two scorecards at the time of the stoppage, but he made those numbers irrelevant and won his first world title in the most dramatic of circumstances.
blood from the middle rounds while Clarke punched himself to exhaustion. In a rematch six months later, Wardley would swiftly and brutally distinguish himself with a first-round stoppage. But on this night, they were inseparable. 3. OLEKSANDR USYK SD 12 TYSON FURY May 18, 2024, Kingdom Arena, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia The biggest and most high- profile fight of the year was also one of the very best. Usyk put his Ring Magazine, IBF, WBA and
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over the final third of the fight, Kholmatov appeared to have
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