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.
Superb performance from Kelly, who is now 8-0 in the professional ranks.
Kelly made a lightning quick start, almost immediately leaving poor Castillo on his backside with a razor-sharp combination.
Castillo survived the count and attempted to throw a few big shots of his own, only for Kelly to dance languidly out of range before ending the fight with another easy on the eye combo.
He's going places...
Josh Kelly speaks after a superb performance
I'm finished at this level, I want to move forward. I'll wait for a name and I'm ready to go.
Promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed that Kelly will return to action on 8th December against David Avanesyan in Sheffield.
The fight will take place on the Kell Brook-Michael Zerafa undercard.
A relentless performance, a great victory inside one round.
Kelly has his arm raised after win
Amir Khan has taken up his seat here in the Manchester Arena and his face has just flashed up on the big screen .... to a chorus of boos. He doesn't look happy with that, bless him.
Thinking ahead to the next Josh Kelly fight, David Avanesyan really is a big step up in quality.
The Russian is coming off a defeat, but beat Shane Mosley in 2016 and held the WBA welterweight title last year.
The fight will give a good indication of just how good Kelly really is right now, and how much further he has to go.
It's a thumbs up from Amir despite those boos... maybe he tried to drown them out and only listen to the cheers.
Tony Bellew is in the building too. For one last time (as a fighter).
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