Oleksandr Usyk has beaten Tyson Fury in their rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Ukrainian Usyk, 37, who had entered the bout as a narrow favourite, retained his WBO, WBC and WBA heavyweight titles with his win at Riyadh’s Kingdom Arena.
British fighter Fury, 36, had hoped to take revenge after his previous defeat to Usyk in May.
Usyk became the only man to inflict a professional defeat on Fury when he beat him on points, becoming the first boxer to hold all four major heavyweight belts at the same time and the first undisputed champion in 24 years.
But his reign over the four belts was over just a month later when he gave up his IBF belt to fight Fury in a rematch because he was unable to make a mandatory defence against the organisation’s interim belt-holder, Daniel Dubois.
Dubois, 27, defended the belt with a fifth-round knockout of fellow British rival 34-year-old Anthony Joshua in October.
He faces Joseph Parker on February 22 and the Usyk win could set up a future fight to unify all of the titles.
Ahead of the bout, Usyk and Fury engaged in a stare-down for more than 11 minutes in a head-to-head press conference on Thursday.
Fury weighed in at a career-high 20stones 1lbs, while Usyk weighed 16stones 2lb, the heaviest he has recorded, although both men were fully clothed when they stepped on the scales.
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