Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury combine for phenomenal fight that ends in controversial split draw

Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury combined for a spectacular bout on Saturday, but one that ended in a controversial split decision draw. It was a back-and-forth fight in which Fury dominated most of the earlier rounds, but he took two knockdowns late in the fight that made things much closer.

Fury did a great job of avoiding Wilder’s power punches for most of the fight, and dished it out as well. Wilder spent too much time inactive, looking for the big shot, and for that, many had Fury winning the fight. The controversy came from one judge’s scorecard that was 115-111 in favor of Wilder, which is, honestly, a ludicrous card. This writer likely scored it closer for Wilder than many, but that card is still seems way off.

The official scores were 115-111 Wilder, 114-110 Fury, 113-113. Stunningly, the 114-110 card for Fury was added wrong and was actually 114-112, another scoring mishap, though it wouldn’t have affected the fight. Fury went down in the final round with a right hook from Wilder and looked to be completely knocked out. Then, as the count was nearing its end, he stood up and seemed completely 100 percent recovered. It was a miraculous comeback in a miraculous fight.

A draw wasn’t necessarily the wrong outcome for the bout, but that Wilder card was so out of left field that people are and should be upset by the decision, at least as far as I’m concerned.

In the pay-per-view card co-feature, Jarrett Hurd put up his IBF, WBA (Super) and IBO light middleweight titles against Jason Welborn. Hurd came out a bit slow and ate some big shots from Welborn, who muscled him around the ring a bit, but Hurd let loose a flurry of punches in the fourth round that dropped Welborn and ended the fight, allowing him to retain his titles.

After that bout, Jermell Charlo entered the ring and had a verbal confrontation with Hurd, and it sounds like the two will be facing each other in 2019, though Hurd expressed his desire to fight another right-hander in his hometown before such a bout.

Though they were headlining their own card in Canada, Showtime presented the WBC light heavyweight title bout between Adonis Stevenson and Oleksandr Gvozdyk as a special opener for the Fury vs. Wilder card.

Stevenson, the longest-reigning world champion, clearly took a few of the earlier rounds, but he slowed down a bit as the fight progressed. Eventually, he got clipped hard in the 10th round, and was swarmed by Gvozdyk, who secured the knockout before it got to the scorecards.

The opening bout on the pay-per-view card saw Joe Joyce notch his seventh career win with a first-round knockout of Joe Hanks, who dropped to 23-3 for his career. Hanks landed some nice shots, but was stunned big time as the end of the opening round approached, and a vicious left hook put him down for the count.

In the second main card contest, Luis Ortiz dominated Travis Kauffman, knocking his opponent down for the fourth and fifth times in his career and taking over every single round of the bout. Ortiz then swarmed in the 10th and final round, scoring a referee stoppage as Kauffman ate several unanswered shots.

On the undercard, the brother of Deontay Wilder, Marsellos Wilder, earned his third career win with a unanimous decision over David Damore. Other notable names to taste victory on the non-pay-per-view undercard include Isaac Lowe, Jesse Rodriguez and Julian Williams.

Below, you can see the round-by-round coverage from the pay-per-view, full results from the entire card and more.

Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury fight to split draw (115-111 Wilder, 114-110 Fury, 113-113)

Round 1: Both fighters take the center of the ring right away. Fury looking fast, feinting plenty. Wilder starts with a couple left hands to the body. Then it’s a right hand to the body, and they tie up. Wilder shuffles a bit, and Fury shuffles back, taunting Wilder with a short jab. Wilder connects with a short counter left, but just misses the follow-up overhand right. Strong jab from Fury lands. Overhand from Wilder is blocked and Fury ties up. As they separate, Wilder lands a hard left hook, but Fury eats it. Fury connects with a hard left jab, then tries for two more, both of which graze. Wilder swings big, and Fury counters with a beautiful short hook that lands flush and definitely hurt Wilder, but the round ends.

Round 2: Lots of level changes for Fury, as Wilder misses on a wide shot. Tons of feinting from Fury, who is keeping his hands, head and feet moving. Wilder lands a nice one-two combination, but a short right hook from Fury follows shortly after. Fury is openly taunting Wilder, trying to stay in his head. Hard right to the body from Fury lands, and Wilder misses the counter hooks. Wilder comes in with a right hook, and Fury ties him up with a headlock. They separate. More short jabs from Fury, but they’re grazing. Huge right hook from Wilder lands at the end of the round. This one is close!

Round 3: Fury lands a body shot early, and keeps going with his feints. Left jab from Wilder connects, then another. Big, big left hook to the body from Wilder, and though Fury is taunting him, that certainly hurt. Left jab from Fury lands. Fury drops his hands behind his back, and Wilder comes forward with a big hook that lands, but Fury trades and connects with a hard right as he dodges the follow-up. Two short jabs and a hook from Fury connect up high, and Wilder wings a hard right hook to the body. Short right to the body from Fury. Jab from Wilder lands as the round ends.

Round 4: Wilder connects with a hard jab, then a big hook as Fury was doing a bit of dancing. Fiury backs him up with a jab combo, but Wilder is in control of this round. Double jab from Fury as Wilder backs off a bit. Overhand from Wilder misses. Both land stiff straight punches. Wilder misses with a wild hook, then he lands a hard left hand. Fury has a cut, or possibly just a nose bleed. That was definitely a Wilder round, but Fury may already have a few in the bag. This is a good one!

Round 5: Things slow down a bit in this round, as neither fighter lands much of significance through the first minute. Wilder lands a nice hook to the body, and he needs a lot more of those. He misses a big hook to the face. Fury’s head movement is, as usual, fantastic. Wilder is swinging, but he’s hitting nothing but air. Fury, though, hasn’t thrown much this round. He lands a couple jabs, and the round ends.

Round 6: More jabs from Fury to start this round and Wilder is having trouble putting together anything resembling a combo. There’s a cut around Wilder’s left eye, and it’s starting to swell. Left jab from Fury, and a short right hook from Wilder. Two hard left jabs from Wilder land, then a third. Wilder also lands a nice right hook to the body as the round comes to an end.

Round 7: There has to be some urgency from Wilder here, as Fury is clearly winning, and that left eye is only going to get worse. Hard left hook is blocked by Fury. Hard right hand from Fury just grazes Wilder. Fury isn’t moving as much as he has been, but he’s still mostly keeping his head out of range, which is why Wilder needs more body shots. Hard right straight from Fury over the top lands hard, and Wilder responds with one of his own, getting Fury against the ropes, where he ties up to force himself off of them. Both land jabs. Left hook from Wilder is blocked. Fury avoids a massive hook at the end of the round!

Round 8: Wilder with two left jabs, but he misses the overhand. He misses another one as Fury gets his head of the way. Combination to the body from Fury connects, but he’s mostly been dodging this round — he can’t coast, he has to come forward with more. And he does it in the final minute, putting together a one-two-three, then a nice overhand, all of which land. Wilder gets out of the way, and avoids a big hook from Fury. Hard left hook to the body from Wilder lands, as does a right hook flush on the chin as the round ends.

Round 9: Overhand right clips Fury’s jaw and Fury taunts him some more, egging him on for more — and he gets it! Wilder lands with a right hand and it sends Fury to the mat! He gets up in time, but that was a huge knockdown. Wilder coming forward now, and Fury ties up to get a reprieve. Wilder nnow trying to tee off. Fury comes back out swinging, with a hard left hook of his own, and Fury is still taunting Wilder. They both took some damage there, but Fury, with the knockdown, obviously took the most. Fury drops his hands behind his back and sticks his tongue out at Wilder. Wilder seems like he may be a bit gassed. Both fighters miss and tie up as the round ends!

Round 10: Fury with a hard one-two combo to start. Hard cross from Fury, and they tie up briefly. Triple jab combo from Fury. Wilder not throwing much, he’s slowed down again, looking for his window. Left uppercut from Fury, counter right from Wilder is dodged by Fury. Hard one-two for Fury as Wilder’s counter misses. Wilder throws a big flurry near the end of the round that does some damage, but Fury is still taunting him and it was still Fury’s round.

Round 11: Slowed down here in the 11th, not much for the first minute. Wilder swings some heavy hooks that back Fury into the corner, and he’s in danger, but he ties up, and forces a referee separation. Hard left overhands from Wilder land, then a nice uppercut. Fury comes forward and ties up Wilder, who probably took that round.

Round 12: With Fury’s defensive-minded fighting in the early rounds, there’s certainly a possibility that Wilder has more rounds than I might suspect, but going into this final frame, I think Wilder has to get the knockout. Fury connects with a cross, but Wilder lands a hug, heavy overhand and Fury goes to the ground! He goes down hard and he looks out! Shockingly, he gets up at the last second and the referee lets it continue. Wilder comes out furiously swinging hooks, and Fury is definitely a bit out on his feet here. Wilder is tired, though, and Fury fires back with a hard right hand. Fury is hurt, but Wilder is running out of time. Nothing serious lands for the rest of the round, and THAT was a hard one to score! Fury probably wins this ... but it’s close. Very close!

Jarrett Hurd def. Jason Welborn via KO

Round 1: Welborn comes out very aggressive and Hurd is immediately against the ropes. Welborn isn’t throwing anything big but he’s got Hurd backing up. This is a bit odd — Welborn is covering and rushing inside, but he’s not really firing when he’s in Hurd’s range. Two big overhand rights from Welborn right after I typed that, and Hurd tries for a stiff jab. Welborn loses his mouthpiece and they stop briefly. Left jab from Hurd lands, and a big hook from Welborn is just blocked by Hurd. They tie up, and Hurd eats a right hook over the top. Big left to the body from Hurd. Welborn is trying to out-muscle Hurd and it’s working, at least for now!

Round 2: This time it’s Hurd coming out strong, with the big rangy jabs, pushing Welborn back. Welborn handles it and eventually backs Hurd into the ropes again, and lands a nice overhand right. Hurd connects with a hook to the body. Three-punch combo from Hurd goes off the gloves of Welborn. Hard left jab connects for HUrd as the round comes to a close. It’s probably at a round apiece right now.

Round 3: Left jab continues to be the go-to for Hurd, who also wings a pair of hooks that graze the body of Welborn. Welborn hooks Hurd’s arm and and tries to get a hard overhand around, but Hurd avoids it. Welborn gets Hurd pinned against the ropes again, trying to take away the range of the job. Welborn lands a right hand over the top, but eats a hard left to the body, then another one. Welborn is staying well inside on Hurd, who slips and falls into the ropes, but it’s not a knockdown. Hurd comes forward and rocks Hurd in the final seconds of the round, winging several hard hooks, some of which land, some of which don’t. Still, it was Hurd’s round.

Round 4: Hurd slams a hard left jab to start. Welborn wings a massive right overhand, but Hurd is out of the way and he only hits air. Hurd is letting himself get muscled up against the ropes again, and Welborn is teeing off with hard hooks. Hurd is doing a good job of dodging and getting his gloves in the way, but he’s clearly not where he needs to be. Hurd comes back and starts teeing off on Welborn this time, big hooks and a stiff jab, and Welborn goes down! Welborn waits until 10 and stands up, but the referee is already waving the fight off. Hurd gets a knockout!

Luis Ortiz def. Travis Kauffman via TKO

Round 1: A lot of feeling out to start here, with Ortiz throwing from range to dial it in. Two left jabs end with a partially blocked right hook from Ortiz. Right hook by Ortiz slips past Kauffman’s guard. Counter right hand from Kauffman hits nothing but air. More stiff jabs from Ortiz, and a body hook from Kauffman. Looks like Kauffman has some swelling under his left eye. One-two combo from Ortiz grazes Kauffman as the first round ends. That should be an Ortiz round.

Round 2: Ortiz is putting a lot more behind his punches early in this round. He lands a hard right hook to the body. Kauffman paws the jab out there and eats a hard left hand counter. Ortiz gets Kauffman in the corner and lands some shots, but he lets him out. Kauffman is doing a lot of circling, and not much punching. Hard jab and left uppercut from Ortiz. Strong counter left hand from Kauffman connects, but Ortiz handles it. Ortiz ends the round with a hard overhand left — it should be two rounds for him.

Round 3: Pace slowed down a bit to start this round. Ortiz is pawing the jab out there, but we get a stoppage pretty quickly due to a low blow on Kauffman. The stoppage only lasts for about half a minute, as they get right back into it and Ortiz lands two heavy hooks. Kauffman connects with a left hook to the body that lands hard.

Round 4: Kauffman is backing up a lot more, and Ortiz is starting to swarm. He’s goading Kauffman into coming forward, throwing heavy and fast, though Kauffman is doing a good job of avoiding the most damaging shots. The right straight lands with regularity for Ortiz, who has kept his hands fown for pretty much all of this round. Kauffman taunts Ortiz now, and Ortiz gives him a one-two for his troubles as the round ends. I’ve got Ortiz taking all the rounds thus far.

Round 5: Kauffman swings a wide, wide left hook, but Ortiz gets out of the way. Ortiz continues with the piston-like right jab. Ortiz eats a hard left overhand, but he snapped his own head back and it may have just grazed him. Two right hooks and an uppercut follow from Ortiz. Big right hook from Kauffman misses. Counter left from Ortiz lands, and Kauffman connects with a short right hook. Both fighters exchange stiff jabs, then Ortiz throws three consecutive jabs. Kauffman lands a hook to the body, then Ortiz throws a quick three-punch combo as another round ends. Kauffman did better this round, but it’s still probably a shutout on the cards for Ortiz!

Round 6: The right jab isn’t even stopping now, he’s just throwing it out there constantly and then a HUGE left hook sends Kauffman to the mat, for the fourth time in his career. He makes it up before the 10 count expires, but he’s certainly on shaky feet — Ortiz thought he won the bout right there. Ortiz keeps coming forward with the jab, and Kauffman can’t put anything together. Ortiz looks upset that Kauffman got back up. He dominates the remainder of the round with steady jabs and a few power shots, and all Kauffman can do is survive.

Round 7: Ortiz doing a little shuffle to start the round, he’s clearly feeling good with three rounds to go. Right overhand sneaks through Kauffman’s guard. Straight right to the body from Kauffman lands, but this round is a bit slower in general. Ortiz controls the pace and the action, but nothing big really lands here. Still an Ortiz round, of course.

Round 8: They circle a bit, and Ortiz delivers another huge left hand that sends Kauffman sprawling to the ground. He survives the 10-count again, and this bout will continue. Kauffman comes forward with a hard right that connects, but Ortiz shakes it off. Ortiz shuffling some smore, dancing around, he wants to catch Kauffman with another big one. Two big overhand rights from Ortiz connect. Ortiz dances away from a hook and, if you can believe it, looks a bit light on his feet with some disrespectful jabs. Left uppercut from Ortiz connects and Kauffman walks through it. Ortiz can’t finish, at least this round, but it’s clearly eight rounds to zero.

Round 9: More jabs from Ortiz, and Kauffman ties him up briefly. They separate, and Ortiz peppers Kauffman with light downward punches. And ooof, Ortiz hits Kauffman with another hard low blow. This one was as blatant as the first, but no points taken away. Kauffman is again ready to go in about half a minute. Ortiz throws two heavy hooks to the body, and Kauffman slips a bit. Stalking him now, Ortiz is unloading. Kauffman tries to put together a combo, landing a short right hook, but he eats some more big shots before the round ends.

Round 10: After nearly two minutes of more of the right jab just pawing around, Ortiz finally uncorks everything he has. He starts firing away everything he has, landing hook after hook as Kauffman can only turtle up — he eats at least nine shots unanswered, though he had his hands up for most of them. The referee steps in and stops it before Kauffman takes any more unnecessary damage, so it’s a TKO win for Ortiz!

Joe Joyce def. Joe Hanks via KO

Round 1: Joyce comes out on the aggressive, backing Hanks into the corner with a could hard jabs from the left side. They tie up, and separate. Hard one-two from Hanks is off-target. Hanks lands a nice uppercut and then a nice one-two over the top, but he eats a hard overhand for his troubles, and smiles through it. Joyce connects with a hard left jab, and is walking down Hanks with his hands down. Dropping right hand from Joyce stuns Hanks, and for some reason he doesn’t swarm. Hanks seems to get some wind back and then boom! Joyce hits him again and this time he drops him. The referee waves off the fight, though Hanks is complaining about the stoppage.

He was pretty out of it, though! The final blow was a hard left hook, and Hanks was rolling around on the mat afterward — he may have been able to get up in time, but I think it was a good stoppage by the referee.

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We’re here for all the action around the Showtime boxing card featuring a heavyweight title clash between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury. We’ll have a live blog of the action, beginning shortly after the pay-per-view card begins at 9 p.m. ET. We’ll have round-by-round coverage through the main event, which is expected to begin around midnight ET.

In addition to the main event, which sees Wilder put up his WBC belt while Fury has the honor of being considered the lineal champion, Jarrett Hurd will put up IBF, WBA (Super) and IBO light middleweight titles against Jason Welborn, plus plenty of more to watch!

The current round and bout will live at the top of this article, while previous results will be listed below, along with full results from the night of fights. The live streaming and other viewing information will be below that.

Wilder vs. Fury fight card results

Heavyweight: Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury fight to split draw (115-111 Wilder, 114-110 Fury, 113-113)
Light middleweight: Jarrett Hurd (23-0) def. Jason Welborn (24-7)
Heavyweight: Luis Ortiz (30-1) def. Travis Kauffman (32-3)
Heavyweight: Joe Joyce (7-0) def. Joe Hanks (23-3) via KO
Strawweight (swing bout): Mark Anthony Barriga (9-0) vs. Carlos Licona (13-0)
Heavyweight (swing bout): Chris Arreola (36-5-1) vs. Maurenzo Smith (20-10-4)
Light heavyweight (special): Oleksandry Gvozdyk (16-0) def. Adonis Stevenson (29-2-1)
Welterweight: Robert Guerrero (34-6-1) def. Adam Mate (28-13) via KO
Middleweight: Julian Williams (26-1-1) def. Francisco Javier Castro (28-9) via KO
Super featherweight: Isaac Lowe (16-0-3) def. Lucas Rafael Baez (34-17-5) via KO
Super bantamweight: Jesse Rodriguez (8-0) def. Josue Morales (8-9-3) via decision
Cruiserweight: Marsellos Wilder (3-0) def. David Damore (1-6-3) via decision

Below is the preview and streaming information from before our live blog started.

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A heavyweight showdown between Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury is set for Saturday from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, and it’s backed by a packed undercard, including a special lead-in bout featuring Adonis Stevenson defending his WBC (World) light heavyweight belt on the line against Oleksandr Gvozdyk.

That latter contest will be taking place on a different card in Canada, but will be streamed by Showtime at 7:45 p.m. ET as a lead-in to the pay-per-view Wilder vs. Fury card, which begins at 9 p.m. and can be purchased through your television provider or through Showtime directly. Select undercard bouts will also be streamed on the Showtime Youtube Channel.

In addition to the headlining bout, Jarrett Hurd will put up his IBF, WBA (Super) and IBO light middleweight titles against Jason Welborn in the featured bout of the undercard. Hurd (22-0, 15 KOs) is coming off a split decision win over Erislandy Lara to capture the WBA and IBO belts. Luis Ortiz (29-1) will also face Travis Kauffman (32-2) while Joe Joyce (6-0) will take on Joe Hanks (23-2), both in heavyweight bouts.

The vacant IBF mini flyweight title will be on the line in a contest between Mark Anthony Barriga (9-0) and Carlos Licona (13-0).

Wilder (40-0, 39 KOs) is coming off wins over Ortiz, Bermane Stiverne and Gerald Washington, all of which were knockouts. Fury, after a long layoff from 2015 to this year, has had a pair of tune-up fights before doping and medical issues derailed his career for nearly three years. He bested both Sefer Seferi and Francesco Pianeta since his 2015 win over Wladimir Klitschko. Fury is considered the lineal heavyweight champion, while Anthony Joshua holds the other major heavyweight belts.

Below is all you need to know to watch the action on Saturday.

All Times Eastern

How to watch Wilder vs. Fury

Date: Saturday, Dec. 1

Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, Calif.

Time: 9 p.m. (Main event approx. 12 a.m.)

TV: Showtime Pay-Per-View

Online Streaming: Showtime, Showtime Sports Youtube