HOW HISTORY UNFOLDED ROUND BY ROUND

ROUND 1: Fury fought on the front foot from the first bell from the centre of the ring. Wilder caught him on the side of the head with a right before he responded with a couple of hooks to the head and strong jab into the champion’s face. 10-9 Fury.

ROUND 2: Fury landed a couple more jabs, but also tasted another right from Wilder. Referee Kenny Bayless had to pull them apart at the end of the round as they scrapped in a corner. 10-9 Fury.

ROUND 3: Fury caught Wilder with a left and then a right hook to floor the Bronze Bomber for the first time in 12 years. Dazed Wilder got up, only to go down again, only this time Bayless ruled it a slip. 10-8 Fury.

ROUND 4: Wilder was still feeling that right hook, which cut his ear and affected his balance, and Fury kept up the pressure. Wilder tripped and fell again with Bayless again saying it was not a knockdown. 10-9 Fury.

ROUND 5: Wilder was almost immobile. Fury decked him a second time with a left hook to the head and another to his body. Fury was docked a point by Bayless for punching on the break, but it mattered not. 10-8 Fury.

ROUND 6: Wilder was bleeding from his ear and a cut on his lip. He was spent and it was only a matter of time before Fury ended it. That moment nearly came at the end of the round when he rocked him with a stinging left hook. 10-9 Fury.

ROUND 7: Fury laid into Wilder again and as he pinned him in one corner, assistant trainer Mark Breland threw in the towel against Wilder’s and head trainer Jay Deas’s wishes. Bayless accepted it and waved the fight off after one minute, 39 seconds of the round.