Tyson Fury insisted Oleksandr Usyk received an early Christmas present after he challenged the Ukrainian’s unanimous points victory in the rematch in Riyad.

Fury lost 116-112 on all three judges’ scorecards, and his bid for revenge for the only defeat of his career ended permanently, with the extraordinary Usyk retaining his WBA, WBC and WBO titles.

Promoter Frank Warren said he was “stunned” by both the result and the vast margin of victory – and Fury agreed.

“I felt a bit of a Christmas atmosphere there and I think he got a little Christmas present from the judges. An early Christmas present,” said Fury, who lost his first fight in May by split decision.

“I was sure I won this fight again. I thought I won both fights, but on the other hand I came home with two losses under my belt. I will always believe, until the day I die, that I won this fight.

“I won’t cry over spilled milk. It’s already happened. I know boxing, I’ve been involved in it all my life and you can’t change any decision.

“I will always feel a little tired. Not a little, actually a lot. When you don’t get a knockout, that’s what happens. You can’t guarantee victory.”

Fury said he would take time to consider his future, which is now in doubt after successive defeats, even if the all-British clash with Anthony Joshua continues to attract mass interest.

When asked if we would see him fight again, he replied: “You may do it, you may not. Who knows. We’ll talk about it next year.

“What’s next for me? I’m going home and will have some time off. Glowing. I’m going home and wish you a good Christmas. I was away for 12 weeks working on this fight.

“I’m going to go home now and enjoy it. We’re having a nice Christmas at the Fury house and thank God we both made it out of the ring in one piece.”

Usyk urged Saudi boxing broker Turki Alalshikh to arrange a rematch with Daniel Dubois after the British IBF champion entered the ring during post-fight interviews.

Dubois was knocked out in the ninth round by Usyk in August 2023, but has since bounced back impressively, culminating in an explosive victory over Anthony Joshua in October.

“I want revenge. I want revenge Usyk! Good job today, good job. God bless you. I want revenge for the last robbery. Let’s go, let’s go. Make it happen, Frank!” – Dubois said.

Usyk replied: “Your Excellency, fight Daniel Dubois. Thank you very much.

“I can do more. I’m ready to fight (Dubois), no problem. Next fight no problem. Now I want to go home and rest.”

Usyk paid tribute to Fury for taking part in a second classic clash in a fascinating rivalry.

“He’s a great fighter, a great opponent and it was a great 24 rounds. An unbelievable 24 rounds in my career. Thank you very much,” Usyk said.

Oleksandr Usyk defended his WBC, WBA “super”, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles after a unanimous decision victory over Tyson Fury in Saudi Arabia.

The pair originally met in May, when Usyk (23-0, 14 KO) scored a ninth-round knockout split decision victory this added Fury’s WBC title to his wealth of belts.

The two started an offensive attack, but Fury (34-2-1, 24 KO) assessed his attacks and landed a nice left hand in the second round, while a right hand momentarily stunned the champion.

The “Gypsy King” did well to keep Usyk at bay, but the Ukrainian began to augment the pressure in rounds six and seven and was doing better heading into the championship round.

Both men left everything in the ring as they fought for dominance, and the fight looked well-balanced as it went down on the scorecards.

Usyk was declared the winner with three identical scores of 116-112.

The Ukrainian was summoned by IBF heavyweight world champion Daniel Dubois for a rematch, although the Briton will defend his title against Joseph Parker on February 22.

Itauma destroys McKean

Moses Itauma further strengthened his credentials by defeating Demsey McKean in the round.

McKean (22-2, 14 KO) was eliminated in the first half, and after the restart, Itauma’s (11-0, 9 KO) powerful left hand confused him and the fight was stopped.

Bohachuk retires Davis

Super welterweight contender Serhii Bohachuk forced Leeds’ Ishmael Davis to retire after six rounds in their WBC super welterweight final eliminator.

Davis (13-2, 6 KO), who took the fight two weeks in advance after Israil Madrimov withdrew, was eliminated in the second round.

“Black Panther” regrouped and was in good shape, but ultimately lost the lead and retired from a corner kick slow in the sixth round.

Madrimov (25-2, 24 KO) is in pole position to fight the unified WBC and WBO champion Sebastian Fundora.

Fisher is ahead of Allen

Popular Johnny Fisher got into a real fight with Dave Allen before winning the WBA Intercontinental heavyweight title by split decision.

Some powerful punches from Allen (23-7-2, 18 KO) put Fisher (13-0, 11 KO) on the deck and by the fifth round it was all at sea, with the ‘White Rhino’ troubling Romford at regular intervals, but Fisher won by two scores of 95-94 compared to a 96-93 score for Allen.

McGregor dismisses Lowe

In a breakthrough featherweight fight, Lee McGregor (15-1-1, 11 KO) won the vacant WBC International title, defeating Isaac Lowe (25-3-3, 8 KO) on points.

A pair of scores of 97-91 and a third score of 96-92 ensured the Scot won the belt.

Undercard remaining

Andrii Novytskyi (14-0, 10 KO) opened the televised portion of the gala by retaining the WBC International title, scoring against Edgar Ramirez (10-2-1, 4 KO).

Two scores of 100-90 and the third score of 98-92 confirmed Nowycki’s dominance.

In the lightweight heavyweight division, Daniel Lapin won the vacant IBF International title, defeating Frenchman Dylan Colin (14-1, 4 KO).

Lapin (11-0, 4 KO) edged the winner with two scores of 99-91 and a third of 100-90.

Peter McGrail’s cut looked terrible 😨 pic.twitter.com/NsiEtqJdnQ

— Ring Magazine (@ringmagazine) December 21, 2024

Peter McGrail was supposed to fight Dennis McCann, but after McCann failed a pre-fight doping test, Rhys Edwards (16-1, 4 KO) stepped in and caught up with the Liverpool fighter, before losing points after ten rounds in the featherweight division.

After two scores of 96-94 and one of 96-95, McGrail (11-1, 6 KO) was the winner.

Mohammed Alakel (2-0) won 60-53 over Joshua Ocampo (8-34-5, 6 KO) after six rounds on all three cards.

Many boxing fans were furious after Johnny Fisher secured a controversial victory over Dave Allen ahead of Tyson Fury’s rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

Two of the three judges scored the fight in Fisher’s favor, even though Allen knocked him down and dominated most of the fight.

Romford Bull had a mighty start and clearly won the opening rounds, but Allen turned things around with a powerful right hand in the fifth. This caused Fisher to hit the canvas and he was lucky to avoid being stopped before the bell.

Allen was in great control for the rest of the fight, but the judges saw it differently, and Fisher inexplicably avoided the first loss of his professional career.

Fans on social media were left baffled by the controversial split decision, with @ATokkers5 posting on X (formerly Twitter): “This is an absolutely terrible robbery. Frightening. Johnny Fisher didn’t win this fight. I’m not a Dave Allen fan, but this is a disgraceful call.”

@johnny33black added: “Boxing can be awesome! This modern AI-powered grading system works better because it’s fucking disgusting. “No person in the world would give that to Johnny Fisher.”

@davidrice17 furious: “What the fuck is the point of boxing? Honestly, it’s no wonder everyone thinks this sport is a joke. Dave Allen won that fight by two or three rounds, everyone knows that, except the f*cking judges scored it.”

Even pop superstar Louis Tomlinson thought Allen did more than enough to win. He wrote: “What an incredible performance from Dave Allen, with so much at stake and under so much pressure. Completely robbed of judges. You were proud, buddy!”

Clamorous boos could be heard as the judges’ scorecards were read at Kingdom Arena in Riyad, while Allen looked surprised as he tried to understand the decision.

Sky Sports Box Office commentator Shane McGuigan said: “I thought it was very effortless to score. This is what boxing is all about, this is what business is all about.

“Close rounds, when you’re leaning towards a guy who’s selling five, six thousand tickets, sometimes those are the decisions that lean towards that player. I would be very, very, very disappointed if I were Dave Allen’s cornerback position.”