Fury defeats Wilder to retain WBC title

Tyson Fury retained his World Boxing Council (WBC) heavyweight title on Saturday when he sent Deontay Wilder to the canvas for a third time with a vicious right hand to the head in the 11th round at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, US.

The enthralling slugfest was more competitive than many expected but still ended as most predicted, with the Briton outboxing the American to remain the undefeated lineal champion.

After losing the WBC belt to Fury 20 months ago in a one-sided bout, Wilder was the aggressor early, using his jab to back up the larger Fury while seizing on every opportunity to throw his powerful right hand.

Fury weathered the early storm and knocked Wilder down in the third round with a short uppercut but the American responded in the fourth, knocking Fury down twice with shots to the head from close range. But like he did when he was knocked down in the 12th round of their first meeting, Fury absorbed the punishment and picked himself up.

From there, Fury took control and bludgeoned Wilder, knocking him off his feet in the 10th round before ending the brutal affair with a clean right hand to the side of his head that sent Wilder facefirst into the canvas. Although down on the scorecards, the fight never felt completely out of reach for Wilder (42-2-1, 41 KOs) due to his right hand but the defensive-minded Fury mostly managed to avoid it.

With the win, Fury (310-1) has now taken two of the three meetings between the rivals after the first fight ended in a draw and Fury dominated the second. "It was a great fight tonight, it was worthy of any trilogy in the history of the sport," Fury said on Saturday.