Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk results, highlights: Usyk upsets 'AJ' to claim unified heavyweight titles

Usyk put on a master class in the ring on Saturday night in London to collect Joshua's trio of heavyweight titles

With tears in his eyes as he raised his arms in the center of the ring after the decision, former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk just shook up the heavyweight division.

Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) set a hellacious pace from the jump to land the cleaner and heavier shots to outbox Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) and relieve him of his WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight titles. Despite no knockdowns, the fight was a thriller in front of nearly 68,000 fans at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium outside of London.

"This means much for me, a lot," Usyk said. "The fight went exactly the way I expected it to go. There were a couple of moments when Anthony pushed me hard but nothing special."

The 34-year-old Usyk threw a major wrench in the division's plans to crown the first undisputed champion of the four-belt era. Joshua, 31, was supposed to face WBC and lineal champion Tyson Fury this summer but plans were canceled after Deontay Wilder won a court injunction to invoke a trilogy bout against Fury for Oct. 9.

Instead of setting up plans for an all-England summit for the undisputed title, the next development besides Wilder-Fury III will be whether Joshua accepts his own contractually obligated rematch against Usyk.

"I have been working so hard since January in preparation for this fight," Usyk said. "It took me some half a year and I didn't see my family for so long. I miss my children and I miss watching them play. I want to go home and be happy and I'm not thinking about the rematch at this second."

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Joshua, who had a swollen right eye that was threatening to close late in the fight, did not speak in the aftermath as he sought medical care. But promoter Eddie Hearn of Matchroom Sport ultimately believes his fighter will seek a second bout.

"The rematch is going to be tough but there is nowhere to hide," Hearn said. "AJ is at the stage of his career where he wants his world championship and he's already talking about it now. The doctors are talking to him. To me, it looks like a damaged eye socket. He says he's fine but he told me he couldn't see from about the ninth round on."

Usyk, who had both swelling below his right eye and a cut above it, was able to set a tone in the early rounds with hard and accurate left crosses that Joshua could be in trouble if he stood in front of him. Joshua was repeatedly backed up by left hands and his legs buckled a bit late in Round 3.

Yet Usyk stayed true to his game plan and never went for the finish.

"I had no objective to knock him out because my trainers pushed me not to do that," Usyk said. "In the beginning, I hit him hard but my corner said to just stop and do my job."

In just his third heavyweight fight and first since closely outpointing Dereck Chisora last fall, Usyk raised his game to a completely higher level against Joshua. He did so with constant feinting to disarm his opponent and turn him into a counterpuncher. Yet Usyk operated at close distance the whole time and relied on his defense and head movement to slide away from big shots.

The only question as the first half rolled on became whether Usyk could keep up the pace. To Joshua's credit, he rallied nicely in the middle rounds as Usyk slightly began to fade. Joshua took the sting off of his shots and merely touched Usyk with the jab. It opened up opportunities for Joshua to land big shots to the body to slow down Usyk's movement.

Yet on the night of his 12th wedding anniversary, the greatest trick Usyk pulled was never allowing Joshua to build upon any momentum by coming out the next round and simply being busier. With the fight possibly up for grabs entering the final round, Usyk backed Joshua up from the start and battered him against the ropes late to remove any doubt.

"You didn't see the best Usyk, I can be much better," Usyk said.

Usyk joined Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko as the only Ukrainian-born heavyweight champions. Joshua, meanwhile, suffered just his second pro defeat following an upset TKO loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. In 2019 that he avenged later in the year.

"We talked about overthinking it and getting too technical," Hearn said. "He tried to do that with arguably one of the pound-for-pound top fighters in the world. Tonight, Usyk was fantastic. I don't think this was a great performance from AJ when he looks back but was that the brilliance of Oleksandr Usyk? Joshua looked tired as the fight went on and he looked tired a little bit. Was that the mental fatigue of Usyk's work?

"Usyk was busier than I expected him to be. I thought he had the perfect game plan and tonight he makes history as the unified heavyweight world champion. You have to take your hat off to him. This is sport and the better man won."

Usyk outlanded Joshua by a margin of 148 to 123, according to CompuBox.

Elsewhere on the undercard, Lawrence Okolie continued his dominant run at cruiserweight with a third-round TKO of Dilan Prasovic. The WBO champion, who is just 28 years old, made quick work of Prasovic, who was in his first real step-up bout to date as a previously unbeaten fighter. Plus, former WBA super middleweight champion Callum Smith made a thunderous debut at light heavyweight with an electric knockout of Lenin Castillo. Smith finished off Castillo in the second round with a devastating punch that left Castillo seizing on the ground. He was stretchered out of the ring in a scary scene.

CBS Sports was with you throughout the entire way on Saturday, so. be sure to follow along with the live results and highlights below. 

Fight card, results

• Oleksandr Usyk def. Anthony Joshua (c) (117-112, 116-112, 115-113)
• Lawrence Okolie (c) def. Dilan Prasovic via third-round TKO
• Campbell Hatton def. Sonni Martinez via decision (58-57)
• Callum Smith def. Lenin Castillo via second-round knockout
• Florian Marku def. Maxim Prodan via split decision (91-99, 97-93, 96-94)
  

Joshua vs. Usyk scorecard, live coverage

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	Total
Joshua (c)	9	9	9	9	9	10	9	10	10	9	9	9	111
Usyk	10	10	10	10	10	9	10	9	9	10	10	10	117

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:02 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R12: Big left cross from Usyk. A three punch combo hurts Joshua bad. Usyk backs him to the ropes with four more. What a finish from Usyk! 10-9 (Overall: 117-111)

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:06 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

Scorecards: 117-112, 116-112, 115-113 all for Usyk. 

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:06 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

The suspense is thick as we await the judges scorecards. 

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:03 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

I scored it 117-111 for Usyk. A masterful performance.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:02 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R12: Usyk still walking him down with big shots. What guts. He could just as easily be holding or moving.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:01 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R12: Straight left from Usyk hurt AJ. 

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:00 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R12: Nice counter right from Joshua. Usyk counters with a pair of right hooks to end a three punch combo.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 6:00 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

ROUND 12: Usyk comes out firing early and AJ looks weary. Usyk has the body language like he isn't going to let AJ be dramatic.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:58 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R11: Usyk hits a left hand to the chest and is busier late to take the round, 10-9 Usyk (Overall: 107-102 Usyk)

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:58 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R11: Usyk walks him down with a left hand and trades evenly with him at close range. 

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:57 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R11: Nice counter right hand from Joshua. He builds behind big jabs. Usyk is bleeding again.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:56 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

ROUND 11: Good jabs from Usyk in the opening minute. AJ may need to do something dramatic here depending upon the scorecards.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:55 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

I have it 97-93 for Usyk entering the championship rounds.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:54 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R10: Usyk  is winging left hands knowing that AJ's right eye is closing. 10-9 Usyk (Overall: 97-93 Usyk)

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:54 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R10: Usyk is winning the exchanges in close. Nice combo ending in a flush left cross.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:53 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R10: The right eye of Joshua has some noticeable marking and swelling. Left cross hits for Usyk, whose own right eye is starting to bleed.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:53 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R10: Usyk is busier and using his jab nicely. Short right hand from Joshua caught him perfectly between punches.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:52 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R10: Nice straight left from Usyk. Joshua is now bleeding from his nose. 

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:52 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

ROUND 10: Right cross lands for Joshua but Usyk backs him up with a left cross. Good exchange.

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:50 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R9: Close round but credit AJ's work and big body shot. 10-9 AJ (Overall: 87-84 Usyk)

[Sep 25, 2021 at 5:50 pm ET · Brian Campbell]

R9: Good work from Joshua to use his jab to be the more active fighter in the final minute. Another left hand from Usyk but AJ might have hurt him to the body in the closing seconds.