Oleksandr Usyk has once again defeated Anthony Joshua by a split decision to retain his heavyweight titles.

The Ukrainian boxer won the bout after two of the three judges scored him higher — 115-113 and 116-112 — than Joshua.

The Nigerian-born British boxer was bested by Usyk in front of thousands of fans at King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday night.

Joshua entered the fight hoping to reclaim the WBA, IBF, and WBO titles which he lost to the Ukrainian in September 2021.

Both boxers began the bout with renewed vigour. The pair also delivered blurs of jabs and hooks in the first rounds.

An improved performance from Joshua pushed Usyk to show a clinical side of his skill set.

They both went at each other over the course of the epic 12-round battle before the judges announced the winner.

Following the announcement, Joshua threw two of the title belts over the side of the ropes before storming out of the ring.

He later went back to the ring, collected the microphone, and poured out his annoyance in front of the audience at the King Abdullah Sports City.

“If you knew my story, you would understand the passion,” he said.

“I ain’t no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth. I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a*** off, I wanted to be able to fight.”

This is Joshua’s third career defeat — the first was to Ruiz Jr in 2019, followed by the loss to Usyk in 2021.

The Cable