Usyk v Fury 2: Anthony Joshua, Wladimir Klitschko and Lennox Lewis react to Riyadh rematch

Anthony Joshua felt Tyson Fury was just one round away from beating Oleksandr Usyk in the pair’s heavyweight world title rematch in Riyadh.

Taking up the role of unofficial scorer for broadcaster Dazn, Joshua had the contest a lot closer than the ringside judges. Gerardo Martinez, Patrick Morley and Ignacio Robles all scored the contest 116-112, or eight rounds to four, in favour of Usyk.

But Joshua, who lost twice to the Ukrainian in world title fights, had the bout 115-114 in Usyk's favour, meaning Fury was only one round away from turning the tables on Joshua's scorecard. After the official verdict was announced, Joshua posted a Ukrainian flag to his Instagram account accompanied by the word “respect”.

Joshua wasn't alone in seeing a closer contest than the ringside judges.

Former undisputed champion Lennox Lewis felt Fury could feel aggrieved by Usyk's winning margin. The beaten Fury described the result as an “early Christmas present” for Usyk.

“I didn't score it, but it was close. [Fury] should have got more rounds in there,” former champion Lewis told the BBC.

“It was a good fight. I would have liked to have seen Tyson be a little bit more aggressive and go after Usyk a bit more. He won the first fight so it was up to Tyson to go after him and make sure he wins the second fight.

“Fury will feel he won the fight, I thought he could have done more work. Usyk was hitting him to the body a few times, giving him free shots. Those are scoring points and I guess that’s what the judges were looking at.”

Usyk's compatriot, the former champion Wladimir Klitschko, cut a delighted figure at ringside. Klitschko lost to Fury back in 2016, and he said he never had any doubts Usyk would repeat his victory from earlier this year.

“As I previously said and mentioned in other interviews, there was going to be repetition,” said Klitschko. “That’s what I expected to happen.

“Repetition of the first match is what I expected and it was exactly that. Oleksandr is a true legend and a champion. We are so lucky to have him in Ukraine.”

Usyk's promoter Alex Krassyuk was in full agreement with the scoring and felt Fury was lucky to have been given four rounds.

“I had Fury three or four rounds,” he said. “The judges gave him four. That's the fairest score it could be.”

Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn disagreed, and said he had Fury ahead going into the final round. He said he hoped the result would finally lead to an all-British Fury-Joshua showdown in 2025.

“I thought it was a very close fight,” said Hearn. “I thought Usyk nicked the last round. I did have it a draw but you know there seems to be a lot of people that had Usyk the winner. I just felt like there was a lot of close rounds.

“There's only one fight [to make], but there's no point, it's not the time to start calling the fight out. You don't know what Fury's going to do, maybe he doesn't want to fight again.

“The one thing I will say is Fury performed well, it's not like he's a finished fighter, his timing was off, his punch resistance is gone. He put up a good performance, so for me, the only fight to make is AJ-Fury. Let's see.”