Usyk retains heavyweight titles, beats Joshua in split decison

• 115-113, 116-112, 113-115

Anthony Joshua late Saturday night lost his bid to recapture the unified heavyweight titles as Oleksandr Usyk defeated him in a rematch by split decision in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The clash dubbed ‘the Rage on the Red Sea’ saw a spirited Joshua, 32, show some aggressiveness and intent – a vast improvement from their first fight – but could not match the brilliance of the Ukrainian.

Two judges scored the fight 115-113 and 116-112 in favour of Usyk, while a third judge gave 115-113 to Joshua.

BBC Sport captures how a furious Joshua at the end of the fight picked up two of Usyk’s belts, dropped them on the floor and strode towards the dressing room, before turning round and getting back into the ring to give an emotional speech.

He said, turning to his opponent, “I am skilled, skills win boxing, you’re not strong. How did you beat me? How? I had character and determination. If you knew my story, you’d understand the passion. I’m not an amateur boxer. I was going to jail and I got bail and I started training. It shows the passion we put into this. For this guy to beat me tonight, it shows the levels of hard work he must have put in; so please give him a round of applause as the heavyweight champion of world.

“They said that I’m not a 12-round fighter. I ain’t 14 stone, I’m 18 stone, I’m heavy. It’s hard work. This guy here is phenomenal.”

Joshua has now suffered back-to-back defeats against Usyk, with the Ukrainian retaining the WBA (Super), WBO and IBF titles he won in London last September.

Joshua however had some success in the fight – and enjoyed his best round in the ninth, charging Usyk down and unloading a flurry of punches, reminiscent of the AJ of old.

But Usyk came back fighting in the 10th round and was landing clean blow after blow. Usyk landed a five-punch combination, and Joshua became a sitting duck.

Usyk took full advantage in the championship rounds.

“I devote this victory to my family, my country, my team, to all the military defending this country – thank you so much,” he said, before calling out WBC champion Tyson Fury.

“I’m sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet. I’m convinced he wants to fight me. I want to fight him. If I’m not fighting Fury, I’m not fighting at all.

“Only God knows whether I will fight him or not but all these gentlemen here around me, my team, they are going to help me.”

Fury recently announced his retirement but has until 26 August to decide on whether he will relinquish the belt.