Round 1
Fury takes the center of the ring and paws with his left hand as Usyk tries to find a way within 5 inches of his opponent. Each man targets the other’s body with their early sacrifices. Usyk, six inches shorter, looks even smaller under the bright lights than at the weigh-in. Usyk lands a series of sharp southpaw punches to Fury’s ribcage. Fury backs into the red corner, throws his arms on the ropes and sulks at his opponent while shaking his head defiantly. Usyk immediately follows up with an overhand left. Easy round for the Ukrainian despite Fury’s theatrics.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk
Round 2
Usyk gets Fury’s attention with a flush shot at the start of the round and Fury is no longer laughing. The smaller man walks past the bigger man and lands the cleaner and more effective shots. Fury lands a deft right hand as he retreats. The Brit then connects to the body with a nifty scoop uppercut, but it doesn’t deter Usyk, who keeps marching forward. Usyk’s relentless pressure leaves Fury uncomfortable even as the Gypsy King continues to score with right hands to the body. Close circle.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 anger; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Usyk
Related: Oleksandr Usyk digs deep in thriller to take down Tyson Fury and unify titles
Round 3
Fury, forced to fight almost exclusively to back away from the opening bell, uses his upper body movement to counter Usyk’s aggression and find a home for the right hand. The fearless Usyk continues to rush in and use pressure to negate his opponent’s gaping advantages in height (six inches) and reach (seven inches). After two rounds, Fury finally increases the work rate and scores consistently with his punishing jab. Usyk complains to referee Mark Nelson about hits behind the head. A very, very close fight after three sessions.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Anger Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Anger
Round 4
Fury is really in his groove now, boxing beautifully with that trademark herky-jerky, in-and-out movement, scoring with the jab and accentuating exchanges with the right uppercut. He lands a sharp right hand moving forward that Usyk took well, but definitely felt. Usyk continues to operate with unyielding pressure and lands an overhand left that, it seems, bothers Fury less than in the earlier frames. For four of the scheduled twelve rounds, this is a close battle between a pair of equally matched top operators.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Anger Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Anger
Round 5
An emboldened Fury moves forward for the first time all night. He zeroes in on Usyk’s midsection and finds the target. Excellent body work from the linear champion. His mugging and clowning of the Ukrainian is not authentic: he is engaged in a serious fight. Fury lands a shot well below the beltline that Usyk is visibly displeased with, but the action continues uninterrupted. Fury scores effectively to the body and Usyk feels these blows. The Ukrainian has sacrificed his elusiveness to aggression and is currently poorer for it. Best round of the fight for Fury.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Anger Judges 10-9 anger; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Anger
Round 6
The body shots on Usyk have taken their toll, but the Ukrainian uncorks a blistering right hand against the flow of play. That wobbled Fury! But the Gypsy King, relying on his almost superhuman punch resistance, seems to recover quickly. Now Fury lands a crushing shot, a devastating uppercut! And Usyk seems to be injured! The Ukrainian goes backwards with a minute to go in the sixth. Fury appears to be in control, throwing combination punches and stalking his wounded foe. He ends the round with his gloves behind his back, taunting his smaller opponent before they retreat to their respective corners.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Anger Judges 10-9 anger; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Anger
Round 7
Fury remains in control through the first half of the seventh, but we see improved output from Usyk, both in quantity and quality, as he continues to try to find a way to work his way around Fury’s physical advantages. Usyk lands a very hard left hand with Fury cornered at the end of the round, but Fury fires back immediately and with flair. That final blast just before the bell was just enough to score a close round for the Ukrainian. It is striking that Usyk has almost given up his work on the body, which had previously produced such effective gains.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 anger; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Anger
Round 8
Usyk explodes a cracking right hand up top and Fury claws at his nose. The Ukrainian, who seemed on his way to defeat moments ago, is back! Now he’s letting his hands go and battering Fury as he retreats to dominate the exchanges. A huge right hand from Usyk appears to have damaged Fury’s right eye, causing a cut. Anger bleeds, red everywhere. Usyk digs in like the great fighters do! Fury’s body language isn’t great. A classic in the offing with four scheduled rounds to go, nothing can separate these heavyweight fighters!
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk
Round 9
It’s clear that Fury is bothered by the blood. Suddenly, Usyk has found a consistent attack with an overhand left, a punch we haven’t seen much from him tonight. One thing, another and Fury is upset! Usyk unleashes a flurry of shots as Fury is stuck on the ropes and the Gypsy King is in serious trouble as the crowd swells! The bigger man is hurt and is now spinning all over the ring! The referee might stop it! Fury has been down in the past, but we’ve never seen him hurt this bad! He stumbles again and falls back into the corner, held up only by the turnbuckle, and Nelson correctly rules it a knockdown. Fury is knocked out for the eighth time in his career! He gets to his feet, but he was undoubtedly saved by the bell!
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-8 Usyk Judges 10-8 Usyk; 10-8 Usyk; 10-8 Usyk
Round 10
Fury has 60 seconds to recover from that defeat. Can he survive this round? No one would have objected if Nelson had swung it out in the ninth, but the third man did well to measure the occasion of the moment, much like Jack Reiss in the first Wilder fight. Oddly enough, Usyk doesn’t press the issue, giving Fury precious time and space to recover. Usyk scores consistently with sparing overhand left hands. The busier Ukrainian is certainly doing enough to win the round on activity, but it could prove to be a fatal mistake after giving Fury three minutes to recover from the brink of defeat.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 Usyk
Related: Oleksandr Usyk beats Tyson Fury to win the undisputed heavyweight championship – as it happened
Round 11
Usyk continues to hit the cleaner, more effective shots as this heartbreaking affair heads into the championship rounds. Both men, despite all the extraordinary conditioning they’ve shown in this fight, look visibly exhausted with six minutes left. Can the former cruiserweight champion close the show and hand Fury the first defeat of his professional career? The Gypsy King has recovered admirably from the ninth-round brink, but he will almost certainly need a knockout to retain his title after Usyk wins another close round.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 Usyk; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Usyk
Round 12
Fury needs to step up to Usyk in this final round and he doesn’t. Usyk comes to the fore in the opening half of the frame, landing one left hand after another and putting his stamp on a performance for the ages. Fury comes back hard in the final minute with some vicious right hands, but Usyk continues to rack up points with his left hand, giving his opponent no quarter at a point when he most needs a striking moment. An exciting performance between the two best heavyweights in the world.
How they scored Bryan Graham 10-9 Usyk Judges 10-9 anger; 10-9 anger; 10-9 Anger
Final scores
Bryan Graham 116-111 Usyk Judges 115-112 Usyk; 114-113 Anger; 114-113 Usyk