Anthony Joshua suffered his second professional defeat after a unanimous decision loss to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night.
Joshua who went into the fight as favourite, was on the back foot from the opening bell as Usyk made a fast start to his attempt to become a two-weight world champion.
And Usyk had Joshua in trouble at several points in the fight โ and almost stopped him in the dying seconds with Joshua finishing the bout backed up on the ropes.
And after the thrilling contest all three judges then awarded the fight to Usyk by scores of 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113.
Joshua was defending his three world titles for the second time since snatching them back from Andy Ruiz Jr two years ago.
He had been out the ring since stopping Kubrat Pulev last Christmas โ and had been poised to fight fellow world champion and WBC holder Tyson Fury this summer.
But Fury was instead ordered to fight Deontay Wilder for a third time, leaving Joshua to accept the challenge of Usyk.
The Ukrainian bulked up to heavyweight having conquered the cruiserweight division.
He stopped Chazz Witherspoon on his debut before outpointing Derek Chisora behind closed doors.
And 67,000 fans packed into the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to see whether he could dethrone Joshua which he eventually did.
Meanwhile, Anthony Joshua was left with a badly damaged right eye after his heavyweight defeat to Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night and was checked over by medics following the 12-round contest.
Usyk continued to land heavy southpaw shots throughout the bout and Joshuaโs black eye started to show prominently after the 10th round.
The British heavyweight failed to make use of his 18lb weight advantage over the cruiserweight king who controlled the contest before finishing the final round strongly with a barrage of shots.
Joshua left the ring soon after the unanimous 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 verdict was announced at White Hart Lane.
Fight promoter Eddie Hearn said afterwards: โI donโt know if AJ suffered eye socket damage but heโs gone to hospital now.โ
Hearn also said Joshua would have a mandatory rematch and the Brit felt he already knew how he could beat Usyk next time around.
British former super-middleweight champion Carl Froch was a pundit for the fight and said the damage to AJโs face looked significant but not serious.
Froch added he felt AJ had shown โtoo much respectโ to Usyk whose head movement and ring craft were the key factors as Usyk claimed AJโs heavyweight WBA, IBF and WBO belts.
Joshua ended the fight pinned to the ropes by a flurry of punches from Usyk who said afterwards he felt he could have knocked his opponent out.
The result is the latest obstacle to AJ finally facing WBC championTyson Fury in a fight the boxing world have long wanted to see.
That showdown had already been derailed because Fury now has to fight American Deontay Wilder for a third time on October 9.
Few hours after losing his World Heavyweight title to Oleksandr Usyk, Anthony Joshua has insisted that heโs ready to bounce back and demand for a rematch.
Usyk defeated Anthony Joshua with scores of 117-112, 116-112, 115-113 to become the new unified world heavyweight champion.
Joshua was defending his three world titles for the second time since snatching them back from Andy Ruiz Jr two years ago.
The Briton has a rematch clause in his contract with Usyk, and later confirmed he would take it.
โThis experience today is invaluable. This will have a massive benefit in the next fight,โ said Joshua, pictured with his swollen eye mid-fight.
Joshua added: โWhen I was walking back through the tunnel, I just said to myself, โIโm ready to get back to the gym, Iโm ready to just put that work inโ.
