Oleksandr Usyk defeated Tyson Fury by split decision to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, the first since Lennox Lewis.
Fury was on the brink of being stopped in the ninth round as he received a standing count and Usyk added the WBC title to his WBA, IBF and WBO belts after earning victory with scores of 115-112, 113-114, 114-113 in Saudi Arabia.
Momentum switched in an astonishing ninth when Usyk seemingly had Fury out on his feet. The Ukrainian smashed a left hook into Fury’s jaw. It shook him all the way through his 6ft 9in tall frame and had him rocking across the ring.
Usyk harried him with further crunching shots, smacking Fury into one set of ropes then another. Fury listed into the strands. He could barely stand and leaned into the rigging.
Referee Mark Nelson darted in then and administered a 10 count, apparently convinced that the ropes had kept Fury up. It could have been a fateful decision. The bell rang to end the round and save Fury from another onslaught.
At the start of the fight Fury had appeared dialled into the best form we’ve seen from him for some time.
Boxing has been waiting 25 years to crown a new undisputed world heavyweight champion since the heady days’ of Lewis’ reign. Fury and Usyk had amassed all the major world titles between them and were fighting finally to decide the first undisputed heavyweight king of the four-belt era.