Aleksander Usyk defended the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles and added the Ring Magazine belt with a split decision victory Anthony Joshua in the rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Their original meeting took place in September last year, and Usyk’s biggest surprise was the ease with which he scored points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, hurting Joshua on several occasions. Usyk had previously gained weight after clearing the cruiserweight division while Joshua had previously lost and regained belts, and for the Briton, who turned to recent trainer Robert Garcia, it was a must-win opportunity.

It was a cautious opening, with Usyk (20-0, KO13) finding clever angles and possibly shading the first round, and JOshua (24-3, KO22) didn’t employ much energy. Joshua did land a decent punch in the second minute, but Usyk’s movement and jab were causing problems for the former champion. The Ukrainian dominated the center ring, and Joshua had trouble pinning his fighter down, though he did land a right hand in the third period. After the fourth quarter, Joshua focused on Usyk’s body in round five, and it seemed to pay off, although the champion continued to find success with his counterattacks.

Joshua kept up the pressure and there was more good bodywork in the sixth set but Usyk was his usual tranquil and classy self, responding with shots to his own body. Usyk’s footwork and arm speed seemed to win out but Joshua again landed on the body more than once in the eighth, catching the 35-year-old’s attention. Joshua was increasingly successful, causing Usyk to lose his bearings in the ninth and bankrupt, but Usyk again avoided trouble and finished the session. Usyk responded in kind, starting the tenth in excellent style with a few spotless shots but a powerful counter right found refuge for the former champion, which was exhausting for him as combinations rained down. Another body shot troubled Usyk in the penultimate round but he shook it off and landed more effective and precise shots that Joshua could not avoid. The Londoner went for glory in the final frame but was understandably tired and unable to secure the knockout he desperately needed as the fight went the distance.

Scores of 115-113 and 116-112 won the fight for Usyk, while Glen Feldman somehow scored in the fight 115-113 for Joshua.

Joshua was very upset after the fight and threw the belts out of the ring before going to the microphone to congratulate his opponent.

The main support was also the fight in the heavyweight division and in the thriller, Filip Hrgović (15-0, KO12) won a controversial points victory Zhilei Zhang (24-1-1, KO19) in the IBF heavyweight title eliminator final.

A heated right hand dropped the Croatian in the first frame, and Zhang staggered Hrgovic behind schedule in the fifth and gave him a close sixth. Hrgovic hung in there and had some success, but by the end of the ninth he was tired and under a lot of pressure. Hrgovic found his second wind, though, and in the tenth he unleashed a barrage of combinations to the head and body that hurt Zhang, but he was strangely spaced out and disinterested. Both men were exhausted by the finish and the thrilling fight went down to the cards.

Two scores of 115-112 and the third 114-113 won the fight for Hrgovic.

WBC lithe heavyweight title eliminator goes his own way Callum Smith (29-1, KO20)and overcame a tardy start to knock out Mathieu Bauderlique (21-2, KO12).

The left counter-attack threw the Frenchman in the fourth quarter, and after the restart, the same shot was fired with much greater force, this time crushing Bauderlique and a break was quickly called.

Former world champion in two weight categories Badou Jack (27-3-3, KO16) was in the action and the Swede was extremely fortunate to receive a split decision after ten rounds in the cruiserweight division Richard Rivera (21-1, KO16).

Jack looked like a faded version of himself and was outplayed for most of the contest, although he had a forceful eight that lasted an astonishing four minutes when he hurt the tiring Rivera. Jack finished well but it looked like Rivera had done more than enough to win but two 96-94 scores for Jack trumped one of the same score for Rivera.

Ben Whitaker (2-0, KO1) fought his second professional fight after winning silver at the Tokyo Olympics last year, with the lithe heavyweight contender amassing six rounds in a wide points victory against Petar Wear (6-1, KO3). Whitaker stopped Nosic in the amateur round, but the Croatian played well before losing 60-54 and 59-55 (twice) on the scorecards.

Ramla Ali (7-1, KO2) AND Crystal Garcia Nova (10-3, KO10) made history as the first two women to box professionally in Saudi Arabia, and Ali wasted no time in stopping the Dominican less than a round into their super bantamweight contest. A large right hand knocked out Nova’s shield, and a body shot finished the deal.

Former contender for the cruiserweight world title Andrew Tabiti (20-1, KO16) made a winning heavyweight debut, and the American earned a fifth-round retirement victory against James Wilson (7-1-1, KO6). Wilson was tired and shaky in the fifth, and the constant attack to the body threw him to the deck. As he ran out of energy, Wilson’s corner pulled him out of the action at the end of the frame.

Ukrainian lithe heavyweight fighter Daniel Lapin (6-0, KO6) secured a half-dozen professional victories, routinely winning 80-72 in eight rounds Józef Jurko (9-7-1, KO6).

Ziyad Almayouf (1-0, KO1) delighted his home fans when the super lightweight defeated him by knockout in the first round José Alatorre (0-1). The pair exchanged from the start, but a tough right hand knocked Alatorre down, and shortly after the restart, the same shot knocked him down again and the fight was stopped.

Bader Samreen (6-0, KO5) extended his undefeated record by stopping Fuad Tarverdi (5-3, KO4) in the fourth and final round of his lightweight competition.

YouTuber Belhas’s “Moneykicks” smashed (0-1) he was nervous about his debut, as was Bulgaria Traycho Georgiev (1-3, KO0) took a split decision, winning over four rounds in the welterweight division.

Liam Smith He stayed on course for another shot at the world title if he stops Hassan Mwakinyo in the fourth round of the super welterweight fight at the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool.

Smith was previously the WBO 154-pound champion before sending his belt to Saul “Canelo” Alvarez in 2016 and returning to the world’s top, with Mwakinyo’s fame secured by Sam Eggington in the second round of 2018.

The Tanzanian was no match for Smith here and it was over in the fourth round. Under pressure in the fourth round, Mwakinyo dropped to a knee in his own corner. As Smith approached the finish, Mwakinyo dropped again and the Liverpudlian opened up with punches, driving him into the ropes.

The referee took it as a white flag from the guy and waved his hand, ending the fight.

Natasha Jonas (12-2-1, KO8) unified the super welterweight world titles, adding the WBC belt to her WBO championship with a gigantic score victory against Patricia Berghult (15-1, KO3). Jonas won the fight by two scores of 100-90 and the third by a score of 99-91.

Dan Azeez (17-0, KO11) made a successful first defence of his British airy heavyweight title, winning a unanimous decision over former champion, Shakan Pitters (17-2, KO6). The Londoner was one step ahead during the fight and won with scores of 117-111 and 117-112 and the third card 115-113.

Frazer Clarke (3-0, KO3) he wasted no time in extending his undefeated record as the heavyweight division dropped Pencho Tsvetkov (7-1, KO5) twice en route to winning the first round, which was clearly a mismatch.

Adam Azim (6-0, KO5) he’s a precocious talent and needed little time to come to fruition Michel Cabral (5-5, KO1) in the first round of their super lightweight bout.

Diego Costa (8-1, KO5) He was ready to meet John Docherty but the Scot withdrew and Costa was left nervous Musa Moyo (5-0, KO0) in the airy heavyweight division. Moyo took the verdict of 58-56 on the cards.

Frankie Stringer (2-0, KO0) remained undefeated, winning each of the four rounds Karl Sampson (1-11, KO0) lightweight and cruiserweight, Scott Forrest (3-0, KO3) arrested Dmitry Kalinovskiy (13-70-4, KO5) in the third round at cruiserweight.

In the super welterweight division Clark Smith (1-0, KO0) debuted and was a success Petar Aleksandrov (4-21, KO2) over four rounds.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez completed his trilogy with Gennady Golovkin, retaining the undisputed super middleweight crown with a points victory on Saturday at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

The pair have shared the ring twice before – the first meeting in September 2017 was a draw and the second was overshadowed by Alvarez, although there were arguments for Golovkin to win in at least one of their fights.

Since their last meeting, Canelo has swept the super middleweight division and also reigned supreme at delicate heavyweight, but suffered a shock defeat to Dmitry Bivol in May.

His rival has won four fights since the September 2018 rematch, unifying the IBF and WBA super middleweight titles last time out by defeating Ryota Murata in the ninth round in Japan in April.

Golovkin started cautiously, while Alvarez arguably overshadowed the first round with more flashy action.

The match got off to a rocky start, with Canelo landing decent right hands, Golovkin capitalizing on his jab in round two, and the action picked up in round three as the Mexican got to the body and applied pressure.

The Kazakh seemed timid in the first four rounds and Alvarez sensed it, landing in handcuffs in the fourth round, but in the fifth the 40-year-old got out of the situation a bit better and Canelo landed a powerful overhand punch right at the end of the round.

After a quieter sixth and seventh rounds in which Canelo once again came out on top, he upped the ante in round eight, landing stiff, demanding shots that Golovkin slowly managed to counter.

“GGG” finally let go and moved forward with his best round yet in the ninth round as the two traded opponents, but it seemed like it wasn’t too tardy to start the championship sessions.

Golovkin was competitive again in the tenth and continued to march forward in the penultimate set, but ultimately needed a knockout to win as the fight reached the final three minutes.

It didn’t look like it would ever happen, but he fought until the end when the fight went down in the cards.

Two 115-113 scores and a third 116-112 sealed the victory for Alvarez, although the margins looked much closer than they should have been and the couple embraced after splitting three battles.

Rodriguez defended his world title

(Pictured) Jessie “Bam” Rodriguez successfully defended his WBC super flyweight title for the second time, overcoming a snail-paced start to his match against the dashing Israel Gonzalez to win by unanimous decision.

Gonzalez (28-5-1, 11 KO) impressed in the first half of the fight before Rodriguez (17-0, 11 KO) gradually gained ground in the fight.

The champion was docked a point for low blows in the eighth and was forced to work demanding against the Mexican, who had previously failed three times in his world title fight.

Rodriguez was lucky not to lose another point in the penultimate frame when another low blow came in, but he ended up with two far too wide cards, 118-109 and 117-110 respectively, and a third at a more reasonable 114-113.

Akhmedov defeats Rosado

Ali Akhmedov (19-1, 14 KOs) won the vacant WBC Silver and IBF North American super middleweight titles with a resounding points victory over Gabe Rosado (26-16-1, 15 KOs).

Two belts won for Akhmedov after a 100-90, 100-90, 100-90 decision over Rosado!#CaneloGGG3 #AkhmedovRosado pic.twitter.com/NQTvBQOOQ6

— Boxing at Matchroom (@MatchroomBoxing) September 18, 2022

Three scores 100-90 proved the Kazakh’s superiority.

Williams overtakes Conway

Austin “Ammo” Williams won the vacant WBA International middleweight title with a unanimous decision victory over Kieron Conway of Northampton.

Conway (18-3-1, 4 KOs) was dropped in the ninth round by a right uppercut from Williams (12-0, 9 KOs), but was competitive, especially in the middle rounds.

Williams won by two scores of 97-92 and the third by a score of 96-93.

Undercard remaining

Diego Pacheco remained undefeated and also won the vacant WBC United States super middleweight title by knocking out Enrique Collazo in the fifth round.

Pacheco (16-0, 13 KO) defeated Collazo (16-3-1, 11 KO) with a powerful right hand, and after the Puerto Rican beat the count, Pacheco’s double-fisted attack forced the referee to intervene.

In a fight between undefeated Aaron Aponte (6-0-1, 2 KOs) and Fernando Angel Molina (8-0-1, 3 KOs), the two failed to separate after eight rounds in the super lightweight division.

.@realdpacheco I smelled blood in the water 🦈#CaneloGGG3 pic.twitter.com/ktwq0WuSL0

— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) September 17, 2022

Every 76-74 score was placed on a 75-75 card.

Marc Castro (8-0, 6 KO) remained undefeated, defeating Kevin Montiel Mendoza (6-2-2, 3 KO) in the fifth of a scheduled eight rounds in the lightweight and super flyweight Anthony Herrera (3 -0-1, 2 KO) won by technical decision against Delvin McKinley (4-4-1, 4 KO) after he suffered a cut after a headbutt in the fifth of the scheduled six rounds.