After all the hype and expectation, it was a scrappy opening minute of the fight. Fury landed a couple of solid jabs and ended the round with the first meaningful punch, a left hook.
Fury settled well into the second, rocking Paul's head back with a sharp jab - and even showboated by twirling his hand then landing a flush punch.
With Paul eyeing up the single power shots, he glanced Fury's forehead with an overhand right but missed wildly on other occasions.
Paul started to use his jab and found success in the third. Then, somewhat bizarrely, Paul's brother Logan was interviewed ringside and with everyone in the arena able to hear, he insulted Fury and his family.
The fight had already divided opinion in the boxing world and this between-round episode will likely have further cemented the thoughts of traditionalists who feel it is making a mockery of the sport.
The comments seemed to spur Fury on as he connected with a short right hand and followed it with a flurry of punches from range in the fourth, although Paul ended the round well, landing cleaner blows.
Paul had the best of the fifth round but was deducted a point for a punch to the back of the head. Fury landed terrific uppercuts in the sixth, but then he was also deducted a point for holding. Neither fighter was warned by the referee beforehand.
The fighters were visibly tired in the seventh, the first time in Fury's career he had gone that deep into a fight. But it was the Briton who edged the round through his work-rate.
In a frantic final round, with both boxers looking to land the telling blow, Fury hit the deck from a Paul jab. He looked more startled than hurt and insisted to the referee it was a slip.
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