Anthony Joshua had Oleksandr Usyk and Tyson Fury’s rematch closer than the three judges at ringside.
The Ukrainian secured a second consecutive win over Fury on points to close out their rivalry in style.
Usyk got his hand raised by unanimous decision with all three officials scoring it the same – 116-112 in Usyk’s favour.
But Joshua, who lost twice to Usyk in 2021 and 2022, only had his former foe winning by the narrowest of margins.
AJ scored the fight round-by-round for the DAZN broadcast and heading into the twelfth and final round, his scorecard had Usyk one ahead.
He then scored the final round a draw, meaning his overall tally read 115-114 to ‘The Cat’.
Joshua gave Usyk rounds three, four, six, seven, eight and 11 to Fury’s one, two, five, nine and 10.
All of his rounds were 10-9s apart from the last one.
Fury’s promoter Frank Warren saw the bout completely differently and told DAZN afterwards: “I mean he was very disappointed as I am as well [with the result].
“But genuinely, I’m not saying there’s any bias, everybody along the front there, we all thought it was the same way.
“Even his [Usyk’s] own people didn’t look too happy. It’s nuts.
“Could you only give him four rounds out of eight? Very harsh.
Anthony Joshua’s Usyk vs Fury scorecard
R1 – Fury 10-9
R2 – Fury 10-9
R3 – Usyk 10-9
R4 – Usyk 10-9
R5 – Fury 10-9
R6 – Usyk 10-9
R7 – Usyk 10-9
R8 – Usyk 10-9
R9 – Fury 10-9
R10 – Fury 10-9
R11 – Usyk 10-9
R12 – Even 10-10
Final score: 115-114 Usyk
“Nuts, I don’t get it. I’m really disappointed with that, but look, it is what it is and we’ll have to see what happens.”
Fury stormed out of the ring in the immediate aftermath and didn’t give a post-fight interview.
But he was caught on camera backstage giving his first reaction, insisting he deserved to have his hand raised.
“Did you think I’d done enough to win it, truthfully?” he shouted to friend and ex-trainer Ben Davison.
“I swear to god I thought I’d done enough to win it by at least three rounds.
“I was on the front foot.”
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