The judges’ scorecards for Oleksandr Usyk’s historic victory over Tyson Fury have been revealed.
Usyk won by split decision in Riyadh on Saturday night, edging his rival on points after shaking him in the ninth round.
He had started the slower of the two, with Fury showing off as he controlled the early rounds of the fight.
But Usyk came back and won a number of later rounds to claim victory, which revealed that all he had to do was avoid a knockdown to secure victory heading into the final round.
Spain’s Manuel Oliver Palermo, Canada’s Craig Metcalfe and American Mike Fitzgerald were judges for the fight, with their scores revealed after the fight.
Scorecards from Oleksandr Usyk’s historic win over Tyson Fury revealed
Usyk won by split decision in a close fight that turned out to be a heavyweight bout of two halves in Riyadh
The scorecards revealed that the Ukrainian had already won the fight on points before the final round.
All three judges gave the first round to Usyk, before Palermo and Metcalfe gave the second round to Fury, with Usyk winning 10-9 according to Fitzgerald.
Palermo had rounds three and four against Usyk, before five, six and seven went to Fury as he began to dominate.
Metcalfe, meanwhile, awarded rounds three to Usyk, then four to seven to Fury, with Fitzgerald giving rounds three to seven to the loser.
Usyk then won the next four on the Spaniard’s card, including the 10-8 round in the ninth, meaning the card was out of reach for the ‘Gypsy King’ heading into the final round.
Palmermo awarded Usyk the overall victory by 115 points to 112.
Metcalfe, the only judge to award Fury the victory, gave rounds eight through ten to Usyk, including the knockdown, before the final two went to Fury, giving him what the Canadian judged to be a close victory , although his two colleagues disagree with his take.
These two cards were first read by Michael Buffer, before Fitzgerald’s card was revealed. He gave Usyk rounds eight through 11, meaning he had already won on the scorecards going into the final round – barring one knockdown – which he awarded to Fury.
Fury revealed after the fight that he thought he won and that people were supporting Usyk because “his country is at war.”
After the fight, Fury told DAZN: “I believe I won that fight, and I believe I won a few rounds, but I won the majority of them.”
He added: “I think we both fought well – the best we could do. And you know, his country is at war. People side with the country at war.