Round by Round: How Tyson Fury beat Wladimir Klitschko to take world heavyweight title

Hardly a punch landed in the first minute as the two behemoths sized each other up. When they started to get comfortable, it was the challenger landing more jabs and showing better movement. Three times in quick succession Klitschko rushed to grab Fury in a clinch when a punch from the Brit landed. Fury 10-9 Klitschko

As with the first round, decent contact was rare but Fury was the more confident and offensive-minded while Klitschko continued to stick his jab fist out and clinch whenever Tyson got close. A neat combo from the challenger was the highlight of the round. Fury 20-18 Klitschko

Fury switches to southpaw and tries to goad Wlad into attacking by lowering his arms. The fans loved it but the champ has none of it, sticking to his cautious gameplan. Unfortunately that results in a round where each fighter lands around two shots each. Complete waste of three minutes, even round. Fury 30-28 Klitschko

The fight is promising to make Mayweather v Pacquiao look like Hagler v Hearns at this slow, plodding, inactive tempo but Klitschko does win his first round with a couple of decent shots which give him the edge over the fourth. Fury 39-38 Klitschko

Klitschko is now nursing a small cut under his eye and Fury returns to what likely caused it by outjabbing the champion and winning another round, landing a couple of decent quick combos in the final thirty seconds of the round to really wake up the British fans. Fury 49-47 Klitschko

More of the same, as Fury succeeds with the jab while Klitschko’s trainer implores him to aim for body shots, to little avail. Halfway through the fight and the champ is falling behind…. on non-German scorecards at least. Fury 59-56 Klitschko

Klitschko is looking a shell of himself here. He cannot figure out how to force Fury to fight his fight and has no ‘Plan B’, it seems. The official’s cries of “stop stop stop stop stop!” are getting repetitive but Fury continues to out-land and fist-pumps to his corner as he claims another round. Fury 69-65 Klitschko

Rinse and repeat. It isn’t great from Fury but it’s smart, and Klitschko is offering NOTHING. Fury 79-74 Klitschko

Fury is looking a little tired and Klitschko finally lands a good combo, bringing the local fans alive for the first time. Fury lands a sharp combo of his own moments later. A slight edge to Wlad there, though. Fury 88-84 Klitschko

Both men are starting to flag, which isn’t surprising at heavyweight level but would be a bit more understandable if they had, you know, fought a bit more in the last nine. An untidy round is nonetheless edged by Fury again. Klitschko simply isn’t fighting as if all but one of the world’s heavyweight boxing titles are slipping from his grasp. Fury 98-93 Klitschko

Fury is deducted a point right at the end of the round for rabbit punching. He had been warned plenty, though many fight fans will point to the infinite warnings Wlad gets for naughty tactics without losing points - especially when he outscored Povetkin. It makes it an even round. Fury 107-102 Klitschko

Believe it or not, a frustratingly-dull world heavyweight title fight ended with a blistering three-minute finale. Not only did Klitschko go for the KO, perhaps finally suspecting he is behind on the cards, but Fury was attacking as if he were 11 rounds down. Wladimir had the better of the combos to take one more round but surely, surely, this was Fury’s moment? Fury 116-112 Klitschko