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• 'I believe I won' - Fury loses historic undisputed championship to Usyk

  Tyson Fury voiced his frustration after suffering the first defeat of his career to Oleksandr Usyk in their undisputed world heavyweight title fight in Saudi Arabia.

  Usyk won by split decision to become the first undisputed heavyweight champion since Lennox Lewis, and the first to unite all four belts.

  The scorecards read 115-112 and 114-113 in favour of Usyk, while a third judge scored 114-113 to Fury.

  After an even start, the momentum shifted in a brilliant ninth round for the Ukrainian as he caught Fury with a left hook, forcing the referee to give him a standing count before the bell saved him from a further onslaught.

  A defiant Fury was not happy with the result, suggesting that Usyk received a sympathy vote from the judges.

  "I believe I won that fight," he said in the ring. "I believe he won a few of the rounds, but I won the majority.

  "His country is at war, so people are siding with the country at war. Make no mistake, I won that fight, in my opinion.

  "It was one of the daftest decisions in boxing. We run it back in October. I'm not going to sit here and cry and make excuses."

  Usyk remained undefeated as he took Fury’s WBC belt to add to his WBA, WBO and IBF collection.

  "Thank you so much for my team. It's a big opportunity for my family, for my country," an emotional Usyk said afterwards. "I'm very happy.

  "My people will be very happy. I think it's a big win, not only for me, it's a big win for my country, for soldiers who now defend my country.

  "I think my father now is watching over me and is very happy. Dad, I love you. I can, you told me I can."

• John Fury appears to headbutt member of Team Usyk ahead of undisputed bout

  Tyson Fury's father John Fury was left with a nasty cut on his face after appearing to headbutt a member of Oleksandr Usyk's entourage at a pre-fight media day on Monday.

  WBC belt-holder Fury will face Usyk for the undisputed world heavyweight title in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Saturday, with both men defending undefeated professional records.

  With both fighters and their camps present at a hotel in the city for media duties on Monday, the build-up to their bout – the most eagerly anticipated in the heavyweight division in recent years – got off to a chaotic start.

  Fury's father was pictured with blood running down his forehead after becoming involved in an altercation with a man wearing a Team Usyk tracksuit.

  Widely shared footage on social media appeared to show him headbutting the man, who then had to be restrained by other members of Usyk's entourage.

  It was later reported that the Saudi Arabian authorities were aware of the incident but did not plan to take any action.    

• Zenden: Off-the-field uncertainty at Man Utd unhelpful for Ten Hag

  Boudewijn Zenden believes ongoings off the pitch at Old Trafford have not made Erik ten Hag's time at Manchester United any easier.

  Ten Hag's first season at Old Trafford was promising, finishing in the top four and ending the club's trophy drought as the Red Devils lifted the EFL Cup.

  However, Ten Hag's second season in Manchester has not reached the same standards, and though the club will face rivals Manchester City at Wembley in the FA Cup final later this month, United currently sit eighth in the Premier League, 14 points off the Champions League places.

  Ten Hag's tenure at Old Trafford has included a number of off-the-field incidents, with a fallout between himself and Jadon Sancho leading to the winger going out on loan to Borussia Dortmund, while Jim Ratcliffe also became co-owner of the club earlier this year.

  Zenden feels that events off the pitch have not made Ten Hag's job easy, as well as the lofty expectations that managing a club the size of United comes with.

  "I have a feeling a bit that at United, there's more going on than just the results, and that doesn't make it easy for Ten Hag," Zenden told Stats Perform. "As I said, you have the press, the pundits that all have their view on United.

  "That also comes probably with the frustration of the fact that United are one of the biggest clubs in the world that also had their time in Europe where they were very strong.

  "For that matter, they were a little bit off the pace, and that upsets people of course. You have to be able to guide the club, the team, the players, the crowd, everybody through that particular period and seize out the storm."

  With United stumbling in the Premier League, Ten Hag has come into increasing conflict with reporters of late.

  Ten Hag's countryman Arne Slot is reportedly in the frame for the Liverpool job with current incumbent Jurgen Klopp leaving at the end of the season.

  Zenden believes Slot's composure with the media will serve him well should he join Liverpool, an area where he feels Ten Hag has sometimes been lacking.

  "I think what could be in Slot's favour is that I think he's relatively calm in his press conferences," Zenden continued. "I don't think he will get tempted quickly to start an argument with the press.

  "I'm sure the press will be happy to try and lure him out to get a few controversial phrases out, but the way I look at it now, I think he's a little bit more composed.

  "This is something that maybe Ten Hag didn't help himself with also a few times this year. There's been a lot of upset. The results have not been what probably everybody would have expected."