Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag should drop Cristiano Ronaldo and Marcus Rashford for Monday's game with rivals Liverpool, according to Wayne Rooney.
United have made a slow start to life under Ten Hag, losing their first two games of the Premier League season, including a 4-0 humiliation at Brentford last weekend.
Much of the attention around the difficulties at Old Trafford has focused on Ronaldo, who reportedly wants to leave the club in search of Champions League football.
In his column for The Sunday Times, United's all-time top goalscorer Rooney expressed his belief that his former team-mate Ronaldo should be left out of the side, having previously said he thinks the club should agree to sell the Portugal international.
"The first priority is, against Liverpool, to just compete and have a go," he wrote. "Do that and the fans will accept it, even if United get beaten. Play like they did against Brentford, and United will suffer an even worse result than their 5-0 defeat by Liverpool last season.
"I don't expect that to happen, by the way – I can't see United winning, but I believe there'll be a reaction and they'll lose by the odd goal, or even snatch a draw.
"But I wouldn't play Cristiano Ronaldo, and I wouldn't play Marcus Rashford. If I was in Ten Hag's position my main concern would be getting energy on the pitch, and United's failure to recruit a No 9 means they relied on Ronaldo against Brentford, even though he hadn't trained a lot with the team. He looked like he needs time to get match fit.
"As for Marcus, I think he needs to do a lot of soul-searching and figure out what he wants, for his own good, before anything else. Because watching him is a real concern: he looks like he wants to be anywhere but on a football pitch. I haven't seen him smile on the field for a long time. His performances have dipped – he hasn't been selected by England for more than a year.
"I'm coming from a place of wanting the best for him. He's a lovely kid and a local lad who came through the ranks at United, who everyone wants to see doing well.
"But you look at the difference between Marcus now and when he first came into the team: the passion he showed, the smile on his face when he scored. It's night and day."
Rooney, whose D.C. United team suffered a 6-0 defeat at home to Philadelphia Union in Major League Soccer on Saturday, also gave his opinion on United's impending signing of Casemiro from Real Madrid.
The Red Devils have been linked with a move for Frenkie de Jong from Barcelona throughout the transfer window, but turned their attention to the Brazil international last week, agreeing a deal in principle with the European champions for a fee of around £60million (€70.7m).
Rooney is not sure if the 30-year-old is what his former club needs, though admitted he is a talented player.
"Casemiro will not be eligible to face Liverpool, which is a pity because he will undoubtedly improve United," he wrote. "He's a good player. I've played against him and he'll bring a bit of character, a bit of work rate, but is he exactly what United need? I'm not sure.
"This goes back to the need to look to the future. Ideally, they should be signing players in their early to mid-twenties, and Casemiro is similar to Christian Eriksen – someone who has been a good player, but are they going to help the club move forward? Frenkie de Jong, Ten Hag's principal midfield target, would be a better fit.
"The Casemiro deal seems to have come from nowhere, and looks a reactive signing – I'd be surprised if he was a player identified as a priority to bring in when Ten Hag arrived. It looks like, having been unable to sign De Jong, United just reacted to Casemiro being available."
Anthony Joshua insisted he is a "fighter for a life" with a "hunger that never dies" amid speculation over his future after another defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk outclassed the Briton at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last year, claiming the WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
The Ukrainian was challenged more in the rematch in Jeddah on Saturday, but produced a near-perfect display in the later rounds to defend his world heavyweight champion status with a split-decision victory.
One judge scored the fight 115-113 in Joshua's favour, while another had the same result for Usyk, with the third decisively awarding Usyk a 116-112 success.
An enraged Joshua picked up the belts after the fight before throwing them down, prior to returning to the ring to launch a bizarre yet impassioned rant on his background and Usyk's skills.
Joshua has now lost three of his past five fights, all of them for world titles, and could not hide his emotions at the post-fight press conference.
"It's really, really hard for me to say I'm proud of myself," he said. "I'm upset, really, deep down in my heart."
On his actions after the conclusion of the fight, Joshua added: "When you try and do things from your heart, not everyone is going to understand," Joshua explained.
"It was just from the heart. I knew I was mad at myself. Not at anyone, just myself. I was like 'I got to get out of here because I'm mad'.
"When you're angry you might do stupid things. Then I realised this is sport. I came back and did the right thing.
"I'm a fighter for life. That hunger never dies. Fighter for life."
Eddie Hearn, the promoter for Joshua, labelled his fighter an idol within world sport as he echoed the sentiments that the 32-year-old will not retire.
"This is someone who I want my kids to look up to," Hearn added. "If he's out in public, he gives everyone his time. He's one of the nicest guys. He's a competitor and winner.
"What you saw was raw emotion. A real person who wanted to win badly."
Tempers boiled over during and after yet another defeat for the New York Yankees, with manager Aaron Boone scolding his side's efforts and imploring them "to play better".
The Yankees suffered a familiar fate on Saturday, losing 5-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays as the New York franchise succumbed to a 15th defeat in just 19 games.
Gerrit Cole voiced his frustrations throughout the match and was caught on camera banging on the dugouts in anger, yet that fury could not stop the Yankees from further squandering their advantage at the top.
The Yankees entered the All-Star break with a 64-28 record but have since gone 9-20, with their AL East lead over second-placed Toronto down to just seven games.
Boone offered his honest thoughts after defeat on Friday, but was enraged by yet another failure the following day as he doubled down on his comments and urged his side to improve.
"We have to play better. Period," he said, pounding the table as he spoke. "And the great thing is, it's right in front of us. It's right here, and we can fix it.
"It's there and we can run away from this thing. And we got the dudes in there to do it. But we have to do it. If we don't score, it's tough to win.
"The good thing is we are in first place. We get to write the script the rest of the way. No one else can get in our way if we go play our game."
Yankees outfielder Aaron Judge echoed Boone's sentiments, though he suggested his side will bounce back sooner rather than later.
"We're not happy about it. If you lose one game, or if you lose 10 games, you're not happy at all," he added.
"But if we sit here and stay frustrated about one game, it's going to lead into the next game.
"So, it's about us picking ourselves up, and not forgetting we're the New York Yankees. And we have to go out there and show people that."
The Yankees will look to avoid a four-game sweep against Toronto on Sunday.
Tom Brady almost joined the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020 after a deal was brokered by UFC chief Dana White – only for Jon Gruden to walk away from negotiations in the final stages.
Elite quarterback and perennial winner Brady entered the 2020 season as a free agent, despite boasting six Super Bowl titles and nine AFC championships.
The Raiders, aided by the involvement of White, were reportedly set to swoop for the former New England Patriots star before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secured a deal for one of NFL's most coveted names.
Brady would throw 4,633 passing yards and 40 touchdown passes as Tampa Bay won eight consecutive games en route to his seventh Super Bowl title in his maiden Buccaneers term.
The intervention of then-Raiders coach Gruden proved the stumbling point as Brady and colleague Rob Gronkowski, who was contracted to the Patriots at the time, ended up playing for Tampa Bay.
"I worked to put that deal together for Brady and Gronk to come to the Raiders," White said on ESPN during Saturday's UFC 278 coverage after being convinced by Gronkowski to tell the story.
"It was almost a done deal. And at the last minute, Gruden blew the deal up and said that he didn't want him and all hell broke loose, man. It was crazy.
"And Brady was already looking at houses. It wasn't said yet that Gronk was going to be coming. So Las Vegas would have had Brady and Gronk the year that the Bucs won the Super Bowl, except Gruden blew the deal up."
While Brady was said to have been a long-term target of the Raiders should he become a free agent, White believes the Las Vegas franchise could have comfortably secured Gronkowski as well.
Neither arrived and duly went on to Super Bowl success with the Buccaneers, with Gruden resigning as Raiders coach in October 2021 – yet Gronkowski has no regrets.
"I'm glad it did not go through," Gronkowski added. "It all worked out for the best, man. I'm glad we went to Tampa, man. It just worked out. I love that place."
Tampa Bay are preparing for their third campaign with Brady as their quarterback, though the veteran has not appeared at their training camp in pre-season.
English football had a very different landscape in October 2010 when Fenway Sports Group won a court case to buy Liverpool.
The Reds had not won a league title in over 20 years, had lifted just two trophies in the previous nine, and had finished seventh in the Premier League the previous season.
Meanwhile, Manchester United would go on to win their 12th Premier League title at the end of the 2010-11 season, their 19th league win at the time, taking them one ahead of Liverpool overall.
The Merseyside club had allowed itself to drift and needed to learn lessons from their fiercest rivals.
When Tom Hicks and George Gillett bought Liverpool from David Moores in 2007, they brought with them promise of investment that should have enabled the club to finally catch up with United.
The Red Devils had timed their period of dominance perfectly, with the birth of the Premier League seeing an explosion in money and interest in the English game, and the combination of ambition, stability under Alex Ferguson and numerous smart decisions on and off the pitch cemented United as leaders domestically, while Liverpool struggled to keep up.
However, despite promises of a new stadium and backing of then manager Rafael Benitez, with Gillett famously saying: "If Rafa said he wanted to buy Snoogy Doogy, we would back him", initial investment dropped off quickly, before it became apparent that the American duo were more interested in taking money out of the club than putting it in.
A dramatic few days at the High Court in London essentially kept Liverpool from going under as Hicks and Gillett were forced to sell up, and a bright new dawn appeared to have arrived with the purchase by FSG (then known as New England Sports Ventures).
Having successfully turned around the fortunes of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball, Liverpool's new owners set about trying to put in place the building blocks to do the same in English football.
Struggling manager Roy Hodgson was swiftly dismissed and replaced by club legend Kenny Dalglish, while Damien Comolli was appointed as director of football strategy, tasked with using the fabled 'moneyball' approach made famous in baseball, to the extent it was later made into a Hollywood film starring Brad Pitt.
It was indicative of the hit-and-miss nature of the approach in its early stages that the first two major investments were Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, with one an undoubted success and the other a spectacular failure.
The strategy was adjusted after their first pre-season transfer window when significant money was spent on players who, on paper, were undervalued, but proved to still be overpriced in Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam, while a young Jordan Henderson had too much expected of him too soon.
Initial promise under Dalglish disappeared in the new owners' first full season in charge, with an eighth-place finish in the league, though reaching both domestic cup finals was not to be sniffed at, winning the EFL Cup against Cardiff City.
Dalglish always felt like a short-term stop gap to appease the fans and give FSG time to get to know the sport better, and their appointment of Brendan Rodgers in 2013 felt like the first that truly had their stamp on it.
Rodgers implemented a new style of play, and in his second season, very nearly won that elusive Premier League title, but fell agonisingly short.
Losing Suarez to Barcelona at the end of that campaign did not help matters, but worse still, the club's inability to replace him even slightly adequately – buying Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli – set them back further still.
When Liverpool lost 6-1 away to Stoke City on the final day of the 2014-15 season, it felt like all the hard work up until then had been undone, and on top of all that, club legend Steven Gerrard was retiring.
FSG had set up a transfer committee of sorts, with the idea that several heads were better than one, recruiting scouts Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows from Manchester City, and appointing Michael Edwards as technical director.
Rodgers did not seem to like working under those conditions, and a bizarre compromise appeared to be made in 2015 whereby the transfer committee would get to decide on one signing, such as Roberto Firmino, while Rodgers was allowed to decide on another, such as Christian Benteke.
It became apparent early in the 2015-16 season that this would not work, and so Rodgers was replaced by Jurgen Klopp, the man FSG had wanted before the Northern Irishman only to be turned down by the then Borussia Dortmund head coach.
Since then, everyone at Liverpool has pulled in the same direction, which has led to almost every major decision made being a correct one.
It has also caused the trophy cabinet to fill up again, with a Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, EFL Cup, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup all being collected since the start of the 2018-19 season.
Their hit rate in the transfer market has been the envy of all major clubs, with the likes of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Alisson all coming in to significantly strengthen the team in recent years.
There has also been efficient continuity behind the scenes, with Edwards promoted to sporting director in 2016 and overseeing so much success in transfer dealings, and his exit at the end of last season saw Julian Ward replace him, having worked under Edwards, being prepared to pick up where he left off.
Naby Keita is arguably the only major signing since Klopp’s arrival that has not been a roaring success, and even the Guinea midfielders' struggles could be put down to his unfortunate injury issues.
By comparison, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher looked at United’s signings since 2013 on the most recent edition of Monday Night Football and came to the conclusion that only two of the 33 players listed could be considered successes (Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Bruno Fernandes).
United fans have been vocal in recent years around their opposition to the club's owners, the Glazer family, believing their own American custodians taking money out of the club has been stymying the ability to have success on the pitch.
The giants of English football that won 13 of the first 21 Premier League titles have not won any of the last nine since Ferguson's retirement in 2013, and have only lifted three trophies in that period.
There has still been significant investment on the pitch, in fact, far more than there has been at Liverpool.
Since FSG arrived in 2010, according to figures from Transfermarkt, with the addition of Casemiro from Real Madrid, United have spent over £1.47billion on players, with a net spend of around £1.08bn.
Liverpool have also spent plenty, with £1.12bn going out on players, but having made significantly more than their rivals in player sales, have a net spent in almost 12 years of just over £400m.
The key difference has been the intelligence of decisions being made rather than money being invested, which is where United need to focus to try and claw their way back towards the top again.
Their meeting on Monday actually sees both teams seeking their first wins of the season, but prospects at Liverpool still seem infinitely better whatever the outcome at Old Trafford.
It is surely now time for United to start learning lessons from Liverpool.
Albert Pujols closed in further on 700 career home runs after blasting two homers in the St Louis Cardinals' 16-7 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Saturday.
The 42-year-old, who started the game on 690 home runs, blasted over deep left center for a second-inning home run from Madison Bumgarner to put the Cards up 3-0.
Pujols made it a multi-homer game with a near-identical blast from a 3-2 pitch from Bumgarner in the fourth inning, bringing up his 692nd career home run.
The 11-time All-Star, who has said this is his last season, had hit a career-first pinch-hit grand slam earlier this week against the Colorado Rockies.
Pujols backed that up with a four-hit game, with a sixth-inning hit slamming into the wall for a single, while he grounded to left field in the seventh.
The veteran passed Stan Musial into second for total bases in majors' history in the process, reaching 6,143.
Pujols also closed within two home runs of Alex Rodriguez (694) in fourth for most homers all-tme.
Yankees slump again as Cole jeered
Aaron Boone was left fuming once again as the New York Yankees slumped to their 15th loss from their past 19 games, going down 5-2 to the Toronto Blue Jays.
Gerrit Cole had not allowed a hit until the Jays piled on four fifth-inning runs to pull clear, leaving the home crowd to jeer the Yankees pitcher who was televised yelling and punching the dugout.
The defeat means the Yankees are 9-20 since the All-Star break, with their margin over second-placed Toronto down to seven games in the American League East.
May on fire in Dodgers return
Right-hander Dustin May returned with nine strikeouts in five scoreless innings in his first game in 15 months as the Los Angeles Dodgers won 7-0 over the Miami Marlins.
May had not played since May 2021, dating back 476 days, having undergone Tommy John surgery but he exploded back on to the scene for the Dodgers, falling one short of a career-high for Ks.
Justin Turner and Will Smith both blasted three-run homers for the Dodgers, who improved to 83-36 in the National League.
Leon Edwards called out the doubters after shocking the MMA world with a final-round head kick to knock out Kamaru Usman to claim the welterweight title at UFC 278 on Saturday.
Usman seemed destined for victory and a sixth title defence after dominating from the early stages but Edwards' left-foot kick knocked out the 35-year-old Nigerian with less than a minute remaining in the fifth round.
Edwards' kick caught Usman flush, appearing to knock him out on contact and stun the 17,000-strong crowd in Salt Lake City.
Jamaica-born Edwards leapt out of the octagon in celebration as Usman, whom many considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world, lay on the ground beaten.
"You all doubted me, said I couldn’t do it," Edwards said. "They all said I couldn’t do it.
"Look at me now. Look at me now. Pound-for-pound one."
The head-kick KO ended Edwards' 15-fight UFC winning streak, falling short of Anderson Silva's UFC record.
The two had faced off previously in December 2015, with Usman triumphant by unanimous decision.
Paulo Costa got the better of Luke Rockhold in an epic, winning by unanimous decision, 30-27 30-27 30-27, to put himself back in title middleweight contention.
Rockhold seemed fatigued after the first round with the Brazilian scoring the first takedown and delivered a barrage of body shots on the ground.
The American had a moment in the second round, landing a roundhouse kick on Costa, but the Brazilian hit back with a big body kick late in the round after a timeout following a low blow.
Despite Costa's dominance, Rockhold gallantly fought on and landed a few shots but the Brazilian would not relent, capitalizing on a sloppy takedown attempt to close it out.
UFC legend Jose Aldo was outclassed by Merab Dvalishvili who claimed a unanimous decision victory, 29-28, 29-28 30-27.
Fast-rising bantamweight contender Dvalishvili was unable to get Aldo on the ground where he wanted him but outworked him for the win.
Oleksandr Usyk has called out Tyson Fury immediately after retaining his heavyweight titles with a split decision victory over Anthony Joshua in Jeddah on Saturday.
The Ukrainian's victory over Joshua meant he retained the WBA, WBO and IBF belts, while he also claimed the Ring Magazine belt.
Usyk is now eyeing off the WBC belt, vacated by Fury who had declared he was retired after beating Killian Whyte in April. Fury had recently indicated he would end his retirement to potentially fight Derek Chisora before flip-flopping on that decision earlier this month.
However, speculation has mounted that Fury would come out of retirement to face the winner of Saturday's bout.
That will only be fueled by the video posted by the 'Gypsy King' on Twitter reacting to Usyk's victory, claiming he would "annihilate" both fighters, while the 35-year-old Ukrainian was already eyeing off a bout with him.
"I'm sure Tyson Fury isn't retired yet," Usyk said on the ring immediately after the bout.
"I'm sure he wants to fight me. I want to fight him. If I'm not fighting Tyson Fury, I'm not fighting at all."
Fury said on Twitter: "It was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I have ever seen. I would annihilate both of them on the same night.
"Get your f*****g chequebook out because the Gypsy King is here to stay forever."
Fury's co-promoter Frank Warren had indicated earlier this month that the 34-year-old was getting "itchy feet" in retirement.
"He's got itchy feet at the moment, he wants to fight," he told TalkSPORT.
"I think what's going to happen is, see what happens on [August] 20th and the outcome of that and that'll determine what he intends to do in the future.
"My opinion, this is not from him, it's from me. I think he will [return] because he's a fighting man and he misses it. That's what he does, he wants to fight."
Anthony Joshua launched a bizarre yet impassioned rant after losing the heavyweight title re-match to Oleksandr Usyk on split decision in Jeddah on Saturday.
The Ukrainian retained his heavyweight belts with the victory but it was Joshua who stole the show after the bout.
The 32-year-old Briton grabbed the microphone in the ring and spoke for four minutes in an expletive-filled rant despite it being Usyk's moment of glory.
Joshua's tirade included moments of respect along with disrespect aimed at his opponent and seemed to lack coherence or direction.
"I don't care about strong, I care about skills," Joshua said. "Being strong doesn’t win boxing … skills win boxing.
"You’re not strong, how did you beat me? I got skilled. I’ve had character and determination."
Joshua, who appeared to throw two belts out of the ring amid the chaos, quickly changed his tune and added: "Usyk, one hell of a f***ing fighter, let’s give him a round of applause.
"That’s just emotion. If you knew my story, you would understand my passion. I ain’t no f***ing amateur boxer from five years old that was an elite prospect from a youth.
"I was going to jail. I got bail and started training my ass off, because if I got sentenced, I wouldn’t be able to fight."
He continued: "The f***ing passion we put into this s***, man. This guy, to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the levels of hard work he must have put in, so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world. Woo! Motherf*****!
"I'm not a 12-round fighter. Look at me! I'm a new breed of heavyweights. All them heavyweights — Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey.
"'Oh, you don’t throw combinations like Rocky Marciano'. Cause I ain't f***in' 14 stone, that’s why! I'm 18 stone and I'm heavy! It's hard work! This guy here is a phenomenal talent."
Promoter Eddie Hearn weighed in on Joshua's confusing rant, arguing he was frustrated after Usyk was "too good" for him.
"You saw the reaction from AJ, and that was from a human who wanted to win so badly with so much pressure on his shoulders," Hearn told Sky Sports Box Office.
"I think he just exploded because he lost and he was devastated, and he's given everything to try and win this fight. He couldn't win the fight, he's a competitor, he's a winner but this man's too good.
"It was an incredible performance. He’s just too good, and there’s no shame in it. The 10th round, the 11th round, that’s why he’s the pound-for-pound number one."
Defending champion and world number four Patrick Cantlay stormed into a one-shot lead at the final turn at the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club after a six-under-round of 65 on Saturday.
Cantlay had three birdies on a bogey-free front nine, but catapulted himself up the leaderboard down the back nine with birdies on the 12th and 13th holes, followed by a 104-yard eagle hole-out on the 14th.
The American had bogeyed on the penultimate hole after missing a routine putt but made birdie on the 18th after an excellent approach to re-claim his outright lead by one stroke ahead of Xander Schauffele and Scott Stallings.
Last year's FedEx Cup champion Cantlay is 12 under at the top, with Schauffele and Stallings both carding five-under rounds of 66 on Saturday to move up to 11-under overall.
Adam Scott, who led by one stroke at the halfway mark, is third on 10 under alongside world number one Scottie Scheffler.
Scheffler was on track for a share of the lead, at the very least, but back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th holes stalled his progress before a birdie on the last after a fine 136-yard approach kept him in touch.
Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa and Aaron Wise are within range at nine under, while Rory McIlroy is back at seven under after four bogeys on Saturday including one on the 18th.
Cameron Young shot a one-over-round of 72 to slip to six-under overall, with Jon Rahm finding his form with a six-under-round of 65 but he remains back at five-under overall after his slow start.
Jordan Spieth slipped way out of contention to be four-under overall after a disastrous third round, carding a three-over 74 with a double bogey in the fifth hole, along with five bogeys and four birdies.
Last week's FedEx St. Jude Championship winner Will Zalatoris retired mid-round after succumbing to a lower back injury.
The Carolina Panthers are expected to be without Matt Corral for the entire 2022 season after the rookie quarterback sustained a torn ligament in his left foot during Friday night's 20-10 preseason loss to the New England Patriots.
Carolina head coach Matt Rhule said Corral tore his Lisfranc ligament and appears headed for surgery, which would likely end his season.
"I would assume it would be a while; I would assume it would be a significant amount of time,'' Rhule said on Saturday. "I'm pretty sure it will be a long-term injury.''
The Panthers made a trade to move up in April’s draft and selected Corral in the third round out of Mississippi. The 94th overall selection was expected to serve as Carolina’s third-string quarterback behind Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold.
Rhule has yet to pick Mayfield or Darnold as his starter, and both sat out Friday’s game as Corral and P.J. Walker alternated quarters.
Corral finished nine of 15 for 58 yards, but had his foot stepped on late in the fourth quarter.
''I hate it for him,'' Rhule said. ''I thought he was playing well too. ... I thought I saw a lot of really nice signs early in the game where he found some guys that were open and did some really nice things.''
Oleksandr Usyk successfully defended his world heavyweight champion status with a split-decision victory over Anthony Joshua in Jeddah.
Just under a year on from ripping the Briton's WBA, IBF and WBO belts from him in a unanimous triumph at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Ukrainian retained those titles in hard-fought fashion in Saudi Arabia.
Usyk's second win against his rival reaffirms his place atop the pecking order in the heavyweight division, with Tyson Fury – an obvious contender – again retired for now.
But Joshua did himself no disgrace in defeat, producing a resurgent display to go toe-to-toe throughout in a fight that may quiet questions around his future despite the loss.
The pair warmly embraced after the final bell and together held aloft the Ukrainian flag in a show of solidarity before the scores were read out to confirm Usyk's defence.
While one judge scored the fight 115-113 in Joshua's favour, another had the same result for Usyk, with the third decisively awarding the champion a 116-112 success.
A low-wattage opening showed little between the pair, with Joshua attempting to exert early control through a steadier command of the middle of the ring than he had shown in London last year.
But a livelier start to the fourth from Usyk drew the pair out into a fiercer contest, before a more explosive sixth ratcheted up the tension with a flurry of hooks and uppercuts from both men.
With the fight past the halfway point, it looked as if Joshua could fall away with his struggle to convert low shots – but a blistering combination in the ninth left his opponent backpedaling to the ropes.
Usyk promptly responded, though, and his unerring accuracy just about kept Joshua at bay through an enthralling finale to secure a second successive points triumph.
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