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Netflix has made a movie about Usyk's fight with Fury: what boxers are like in real life, why the British father went mad and what Klitschko says about the Ukrainian
Netflix has presented the documentary Absolute Championship, a film about the historic boxing match between Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk and British Tyson Fury for the title of absolute world heavyweight champion. The fight took place in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on May 18, 2024.
Viewers had the opportunity to watch the boxers' training sessions, press conferences, and a spectacular fight, but much remained unseen by boxing fans. OBOZ.UA will tell you what was shown in Absolute Championship.
General information
The documentary has been filmed since 2023 when the fighters first decided on the date of the fight in February. The first footage was shot 8 months before the fight. The film consists of a cut of the most striking blows, and comments from the teams of both boxers and people involved in this event. Among them are managers, family members, journalists, and other famous athletes. Among them is Wladimir Klitschko. The final scenes cover another month of the athletes' lives after the fight. The movie is currently only available on Netflix with Ukrainian subtitles.
Who are Usyk and Fury?
Leaving aside the general comments of the invited guests about the importance of the fight for the title of absolute world champion, the first part of the film tells the audience a little more about Usyk and Fury.
Netflix devoted an entire block of the story to the British fighter's ordinary day, where he spends time with his children, buys coffee in a small cafe, and has breakfast with his fans. After watching the movie, one is convinced that the boxer's provocative behavior in the ring and in front of the cameras is only part of his image.
Meanwhile, Usyk appeared before the audience as a persistent, stubborn, but also positive joker. His training sessions are accompanied by laughter, but are not devoid of monotonous skill honing. As Usyk's team explained, he knows how to win because he has been doing it all his life. The Ukrainian was called the smartest boxer of his time, who calculates all future moves of his opponent and is not afraid of large dimensions.
The fight is in danger of being disrupted
The next part of the film dealt with Fury's dramatic eyebrow dissection, which caused the fight to be postponed to May 18. In this part, commentators mostly wondered how fans could have assumed that the champion would get scared, ask the surgeon to cut his face open, or ask someone from his team to deliberately hit him harder.
Dad: the most emotional part
Describing the scandalous incident before the fight, when Fury's father John hit a member of Usyk's team with his head, Netflix defended the man. The weightlifter's inner circle explained Fury Sr.'s behavior, justifying it as a desire to divert attention from his son and give him a "break." They say that with his crazy antics, John Fury helps the boxer relieve the tension from the hype around him.
Usyk's story was more dramatic. The fighter shared that he had never heard words of love from his father, who died in 2012. At that time, Oleksandr was unable to say goodbye to his father, which he still regrets. The sports star's team said that Usyk sees Oleksandr Sr. every time before a fight.
The war in Ukraine
In the second part of the documentary, the Russian-Ukrainian war and its direct impact on the boxer's career were mentioned.
"He has an unbreakable will. How can you fight psychologically with someone whose country is going through the biggest war in its history? With someone who wants to be at the front to defend the country? This guy has seen death with his own eyes. For him, the ring is easy," the voiceover reads.
According to the film, the boxer rushed home from Poland as soon as he learned about the full-scale invasion. In addition, he was encouraged in the fight by the Ukrainian military, who asked the star to defend the country's honor.
"Oleksandr Usyk proves that we are unstoppable, that we cannot be destroyed. We show that we are fighting back and will never surrender," Klitschko said. This section ends with an emotional selection of comments, a series of Usyk's punches, and philosophical reflections on what the historic victory of their compatriot means for Ukrainians.
Afterword after Fury
The story is put to an end by the defeated boxer, who a month later describes his life without even hinting at a rematch. We learn that for the British man, success means being a good father and enjoying simple moments with his family. According to Fury himself, he doesn't admire the 25 belts hanging on the wall in his living room, but passes by them without mentioning the championship titles.
Earlier, OBOZ.UA wrote that on the night of Sunday, December 22, WBC, WBA, WBO, and IBO champion Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury again and defended his titles.
As a reminder, Fury once again called Usyk a sausage and promised to defeat him. The British boxer also spoke about being bullied in his youth when he was offered to quit the sport and admitted why he really decided to fight the Ukrainian.
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