Tony Bellew vs Usyk LIVE: Bellew retires immediately, Usyk looks for heavyweight move to fight Anthony Joshua after knockout victory
Usyk beat Bellew via knockout in the eighth round. Re-live all the action plus the post-fight press conferences
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Your support makes all the difference.Tony Bellew's quest to become the unified cruiserweight champion ended in defeat as Oleksandr Usyk inflicted a devastating knockout defeat inside the Manchester Arena to retain the WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO and The Ring titles.
Bellew previously held the WBC title after he defeated Ilunga Makabu in what he describes as the 'greatest night of his boxing career', winning the belt at the home of his beloved Everton - Goodison Park - before then vacating it after a single defence in order to fight David Haye twice at heavyweight.
In his absence, Usyk dominated the division and, early Bellew made a quick start to cause Usyk problems he hadn't faced before, the Ukranian stepped the pace up to start dominating Bellew.
By the time the sixth round finished, Bellew was starting to blow as the pace took its toll, and a momentary loss of concentration at the end of the seventh saw Usyk rock him on the bell with a left hook - a punch that Bellew would get to know much more in the next round.
With Bellew stunned, Usyk went for the kill and a cross-left was followed by a brutal left hook that sent Bellew crashing to the canvas, with the fight waved off before he could attempt to return to his feet.
Once he regained his bearings, Bellew confirmed that it will be the last time he fights in the ring, while Usyk set his sights on the heavyweight division and future bouts against Anthony Joshua, Dillian Whyte and Deontay WIlder.
Re-live all the action from the fight and from the press conferences below.
Fight preview:
When and where is the fight?
The fight takes place tonight at the Manchester Arena.
Expect the ring walks to take place around 10pm.
Where can I watch it?
The fight will be shown live on Sky Sports Box Office, which means you’re going to have to cough up if you want to watch it.
The PPV costs £19.95, or you can follow along for free with us, right here.
Who is the undercard?
- Sam Hyde vs Richard Riakporhe
- Dave Allen vs Ariel Esteban Bracamonte
- Josh Kelly vs Walter Fabian Castillo
- Ricky Burns vs Scotty Cardle
- Anthony Crolla vs Daud Yordan
Who do you think will win? Let us know in the comments below.
Prince Naseem Hamed is in the building and he's being swooned over by fans left, right and centre.
He comes onto the screen and everyone goes wild.
A boxing great.
Crolla and Yordan trade blows in the third.
The Manchester-born man has been the much tidier fighter of the two so far and has won every round up until now.
They're really fast.
Not really, that's just a camera trick.
Into the eighth and it's pretty mixed so far, Crolla will still be ahead on the cards but Yordan has won the last couple of rounds, can he continue at this pace?
Usyk gets those hands wrapped.
Not long to go here at the Manchester Arena.
Final words ahead of show time.
Barry Hearn visits Bellew in his changing room, the last fight of his professional boxing career is nearly upon us.
Prince Naseem's hope for tonight's main event?
I would love to see him knock Usyk clean out.
That is that!
Both men raise their hands after 12 rounds, it should be a Crolla win, but who knows? Yordan certainly finished the stronger of the two fighters.
We await the scorecards...
Anthony Crolla wins by unanimous decision!
All three judges had it exactly the same, 116-112. The Manchester-born fighter will challenge for the WBA world lightweight title.
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