The most exciting part about Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk finally squaring off for the undisputed heavyweight championship on Saturday was that nobody really knew who was going to win. There was serious jeopardy on both sides.
As the moment approached, fighters, fans, media and industry insiders offered their opinions with major trepidation: "I think Fury is too big, but…", "I think Usyk is too skilled, but…" For that reason, this fight was the perfect storm and it was perhaps destined to be a class. Neither man had ever tasted defeat and both had beaten the very best.
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As great a boxing mind as Teddy Atlas is, even he acknowledged how difficult it had been to pick a winner when I met him at King Khalid Airport the day after the fight. However, the acclaimed trainer and boxing commentator pointed out that conditioning and physical attributes were never going to be enough.
"I could see Fury with the size advantage, using it from the outside," said Atlas in an interview with The Sporting News. "He can control range, control geometry, which is always important in a fight. You put the burden on the shorter man to get inside and you make him pay the penalty. This would give Usyk problems because his greatest skill is putting punches together: hand speed, counter punching and turning defence into offense — make you miss, make you pay. You can't do those things if you're kept at distance.
"It was a very difficult fight to pick, but I picked Usyk because of his ability to find a way to win. Even since he was a teenager, he had the ability to find a way. He's done it in the Olympics; he did it when he won the cruiserweight titles — unified it in other countries; he won the heavyweight title against a good big man [Anthony Joshua], and, to show it wasn't a fluke, he did it again."
But despite the fact that Atlas called it correctly, he was very impressed by the fighting ability and courage on both sides. Fury vs. Uysk reached the rarified status of living up to the buildup and it did wonders for professional boxing.
"You saw real, true championship character on display from both guys," Atlas acknowledged. "I often say when I commentate, it's one thing to be able to fight like a champion, but it's another to be able to behave like one when the moment comes. They both know how to do that.
"Obviously, Usyk being behind the way he was, to do what he did [to come back and win]. But also, after that ninth round, as badly assaulted as Fury had been, as badly hurt as he was, he recovered in the 10th. And here's the thing for me: not only did Fury survive, but in the 11th and 12th, he made those rounds really close. What that told me was, it's one thing to come back and survive, but it's another to come back and still try to win."
After being rocked to his heels by a brutal body attack and several jarring right uppercuts to the chin, Usyk began dishing out horrific punishment of his own. It was in round seven that Atlas turned to his son at ringside and said, "Do you remember what I've been saying all week? Find a way to win? This is it showing up."
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Galvanised by what his country has gone through during the Russian invasion, the Ukrainian hero reached levels that few fighters can reach. He tested Fury physically and mentally, putting everything into a sustained attack in the second half. Fury fought valiantly, but his opponent was fighting for more than world titles.
"Do not discount the power of a man who is standing for the hope of a country. Do not discount that, please," offered Atlas. "Don't make it just about jabs and legs. You're talking about a man that is standing up for a country that is war torn, with people having their lives just torn away from them.
"Those people — the women, the children, the older people, not only the frontline soldiers, but the people that can't pick up a gun — they need a way of having hope. They need a way of having belief that they will still have the strength to persevere. They have it. This guy symbolised that. Usyk symbolized that: that hope, that strength."
Despite waiting 25 years for an undisputed heavyweight champion, Usyk will soon be forced to relinquish one of his titles. But regardless of all the politics, Fury will have a chance to avenge the first setback of his professional career when he takes on Usyk in a contractually agreed rematch, and this rivalry will now supersede the belts.
"I don't believe the fight will happen on the dates they're talking about, there's no way," said Atlas in relation to a proposed October date. "After everything they've been through emotionally, forget about physically, I would be shocked if it happened that quick. These guys are coming off triple back-to-back camps because of all the delays."
Either way, like the original, the sequel is sure to be worth the wait.