Oleksandr Usyk, on Sunday, defeated Tyson Fury by split decision to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion, 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.

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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.

Despite the importance of this fight, the historic nature of the occasion, Fury was showboating, early in the fight too. He shimmied his body when stood in a corner in the first round, slipping his head from side to side.

For a moment in the second round he hid his hands behind his back. But it was his long, flickering jab that was connecting, just directing Usyk’s attention away from that right that Fury dug occasionally to the body.

He ended the second round with a cracking right uppercut through the middle that prompted a smile from Fury.

Usyk said: “Thank you so much for my team. It’s a big opportunity for my family, for my country. I’m very happy.

“My people will be very happy I think, it’s a big win, not only for me, it’s a big win for my country, for soldiers who now defend my country.

“I think my father now is watching over me and is very happy. Dad, I love you. I can, you told me I can.”

Fury thought the decision should have gone his way, saying: “I believe I won that fight. I believe he won a few rounds but I won more of them.

“Make no mistake I won that fight and I’ll be back. We go back to our families and we run it back in October.

“I’m not going to sit here and cry and make excuses.”

The Star