He proved a wide winner past Wladimir Klitschko with a savvy 12-round points nod, heralding in a new era for the heavyweight division. At the time, Tyson’s victory over the dominant Klitschko was regarded as a massive upset but on Saturday night, Fury and his new charge Rico Verhoeven came close to eclipsing that achievement.

A kickboxing legend but boxing novice, Verhoeven (1-1, 1 KO) pushed The Ring and unified champion Oleksandr Usyk (25-0, 16 KOs) to the very limit before being stopped in the 11th round in the shadows of the Great Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.

The boxing world expected Usyk to produce an exhibition befitting of the spectacular surroundings and dominate the Dutchman during their crossover clash.

Ignoring the outside noise, Fury quietly got on with the task of preparing his man to shock the world. The plan almost worked.

Verhoeven's feints, forward momentum and work rate bamboozled Usyk and as the rounds passed, the kickboxing legend seemed to be on course for a stunning victory.

Eventually in the 11th round, Usyk found the answer. He dropped Verhoeven with an uppercut and his follow up attack forced referee Mark Lyson to step in and controversially stop the fight as the bell sounded to end the round.

After the fight, Fury told DAZN that he understood those who wrote his man off beforehand.

"I'm not slating anybody and saying, "Oh, he's got it wrong" because if I was an analyst and didn't know the work that we were doing, I'd say the same," Fury said.

"I'd say he's a kickboxer, he's going nowhere and you'd expect for him to go one, two or three rounds but Oleksandr said to me, "We knew when you was at the back of this [in his corner], there was going to be a problem somewhere."

"Look, we worked on him and done the best we could but the only thing that let Rico down tonight was experience."

Over the course of his storied career, Usyk has always been able to call on almost superhuman levels of stamina and needed another of his trademark late surges to bring an end to Verhoeven's brave effort.

Lyson's decision to step in and halt the action as the bell sounded to end the 11th round has caused inevitable contention. The scorecards were close at the time of the stoppage and debate continues to rage about exactly what would have happened had the 37-year-old been allowed to answer the bell for the 12th and final round.

Rather than getting drawn into a row, the calm, considered Fury bit his tongue. He believes Verhoeven did more than enough to warrant a second crack at the unified champion.

"I'm about respect. Blessed Lord, respect. Respect your opponent and at the end of it, Usyk's got the win," he said.

"Full congratulations to him but I think they should - I think Oleksandr will run it back. Let's run it back because the guy deserves another shot. Look what's happened here. A little bit of more experience, you know. This is the first time he's ever, ever gone past five rounds. It's amazing."