John Fury was every father as he watched his son lose for the first time.
British heavyweight Fury failed to make history as he was beaten on points by Oleksandr Usyk in Saudi Arabia, missing out on the chance to become undisputed heavyweight world champion.
Fury Sr was seen screaming instructions to his son during the 12 thrilling rounds, including when he was knocked down in the ninth and forced to cling on to survive.
As the decision was announced, which saw Usyk take Fury’s WBC belt, footage caught the famous father’s dejected reaction to the result.
He can be seen looking miserable and frustrated before turning away from the ring, with his previously unbeaten son condemned to a first professional loss.
Fury’s father has yet to speak out in public since the defeat, but will no doubt be proud of Tyson, who put on a resilient display despite losing.
Prior to the showdown, the 59-year-old had given his extremely confident assessment that Fury would breeze past Usyk.
He’d also been helping Fury prepare during training camp, and worked alongside trainers Andy Lee and Sugar Hill Steward in his corner on the night.
The corner incorrectly suggested that Fury was ahead on the scorecards in the final round, and advised him he was one round from picking up the win.
It was clear that the confusion over the result had spread to the ‘Gypsy King’, who suggested after the contest that he believed he had done enough to have his hand raised.
What Is An Undisputed World Champion?
In boxing, an undisputed world champion is someone who wins all of the four major world title belts in their division – WBA, WBC, IBF and WBO.
Before their fight, Fury was the WBC champion while Usyk had the WBA, IBF and WBO straps. The winner was then awarded all four belts as the division’s undisputed king.
The last heavyweight champion to hold all the belts was Lennox Lewis when he beat Evander Holyfield in 1999 to add his WBA and IBF titles to the WBC belt. This was before what is now known as the ‘four-belt era’ with the WBO being recognised as a title from 2004.
“I thank Oleksandr for the good fight, it was a close fight but I thought I did enough,” he said at the post-fight press conference.
“I’m not a judge and I can’t judge a fight while I’m boxing it.
“If they’d said to me before the last round that I was down I would have gone and tried to finish it but everyone in the corner believed we were up.
“All I had to do was just keep boxing and keep doing what I was doing and I was getting it.
“I’m not going to cry about it, I’ve had plenty of victories. It was what it was.
“I was having a lot of fun, I was playing around, I had my hands around my back, i was enjoying it.
“He’s a good fighter Oleksandr, I was catching him and he was catching me.”
Fury will now return to the drawing boards and search for redemption, with a contracted rematch targeted for October.
However, it will not be for the undisputed titles with champion elect Usyk set to be stripped of his IBF belt just weeks after the win.