Oleksandr Usyk has been pictured with a bruised and battered face after retaining his world titles.
The Ukrainian added the vacant Ring Magazine title to the WBA Super, IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight titles on Saturday night as he remained undefeated.
Usyk, who moved to 20-0 with 13 quick finishes, outpointed Anthony Joshua in a money-spinning rematch at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia.
It was a split decision, with two of the three judges handing in tallies of 116-112 and 115-113 in favour of Usyk and the other judge, Glenn Feldman, inexplicably awarding the fight to the Brit –– who has now lost three of his last five — by a margin of 113-115.
Usyk took some heavy shots from AJ during the fight and was on filmed leaving the kingdom after his win with two black eyes bruises on his face.
Oleksandr Usyk leaving Saudi Arabia after beating Anthony Joshua…
[🎥 BigMazi] pic.twitter.com/9drssXiHVJ
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) August 21, 2022
Joshua, who had his new coach Robert Garcia in the corner with him for the first time since leaving long-time mentor Robert McCracken in the wake of the first loss to Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September, produced a much-improved display, having numerous spells of success.
But it wasn’t enough as Usyk came out victorious after a Herculean effort in the final three rounds.
Usyk said in the aftermath of the victory:
“I’m not sure if I’m right or not, but I saw in round eight, I saw in Anthony Joshua’s eyes that he was feeling victorious already.”
“I kept telling myself, ‘You cannot stop, you cannot stop, you cannot stop.’ Big things were at stake.”
Joshua had plenty of success in rounds eight and nine of the fight, with the latter of the two stanzas said to have been his best of the fight, and Usyk stepped it up to pull away and secure the win.
Afterwards, the former undisputed cruiserweight champion who moved up to heavyweight three years after cleaning up the 200-pound division and winning every belt, called out Tyson Fury, the WBC champion who holds the only piece of real estate not belonging to the man who was on the frontline of his country’s war with Russia earlier this year, for a potential £200million undisputed showdown in the sport’s premier division.
Usyk suggested that he may hang up the gloves if Fury did not accept the undisputed fight. But ‘The Gypsy King’, who was in retirement after relinquishing the aforementioned Ring Magazine belt won by Usyk last weekend, was quick to respond, stating that he would relieve him of his titles at the earliest available opportunity.