For nine rounds, Tyson Fury danced around the ring with a lightness of foot that belies his 6ft 9' stature, making a mockery of Deontay Wilder's hackneyed swinging attempts. All that Wilder connected with for vast swathes of the fight last night was thin air, as Fury goaded his American rival by placing his hands behind his back, raising them aloft to the crowd at the end of each round, and laughing in the face of the Bronze Bomber's would-be onslaughts.
Then, in the ninth, Wilder finally caught a somewhat complacent Fury with two clips to the top of his head, which sent the Mancunian 'Gyspy King' to the canvas. Fury shook off those shots easily enough, though, and actually finished that round the stronger of the two men, Wilder seeming to punch himself out.
It was more from the first three quarters of the fight through rounds 10 and 11, with Fury's counter-punching working a treat and Deontay Wilder looking increasingly ragged as he swung for the fences, safe in the knowledge that he would need to knock the Mancunian down again at the very least to be within any shot of salvaging anything from the biggest fight of his career.
He did just that, catching Fury with a monstrous one-two combo that sent him crashing to the canvas once more. They were two brutal punches, and it looked as though the fight was all over. Then, remarkably, Fury rose from the canvas once more, beating the 10 count by the skin of his teeth, and came back with an onslaught of his own to round off the most memorable 12th round in recent heavyweight memory.
No-one could quite believe that Fury had managed to stand back up after Wilder's punches, which, inevitably lead to some priceless reactions online. Here are some of the best.
Then, people began to point out what many in the boxing media had suggested in the wake of the split decision draw, that Tyson Fury was robbed, and should have won the fight handily.
Whatever your feelings are on last night's decision, and I have to say that I am firmly of the mind that Tyson Fury won the fight convincingly, we now get to watch it all over again, with a rematch looking extremely likely.
Tyson Fury's journey is now well known; back from the brink of the complete destruction of his own body, a remarkable 10-stone weight loss and a world title fight in just his third bout since returning to the ring. As his fans are so fond of singing: "There's only one Tyson Fury".
