Usyk vs. Joshua 2: A look back at Anthony Joshua losing his heavyweight belts against Oleksandr Usyk in London
Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk will lock horns for the second time for the IBF, WBA (Super), and WBO heavyweight titles on Saturday, August 20 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
‘AJ’ will look to regain the title he lost to his Ukrainian opponent last September. He has made Jeddah his training base over the last month as he tries to become a three-time unified heavyweight champion.
In their first meeting, Usyk shocked Joshua before his hometown fans in a thrilling 12-rounder that showcased Usyk’s tactical brilliance. The undisputed cruiserweight champion used his skills and strategy to win a clear unanimous decision over the bigger and stronger Joshua. The British heavyweight tried to push Usyk throughout the fight but was never able to see his power take over.
Usyk started aggressively, applying pressure to Joshua in the first four rounds. It wasn't until the fifth round that Joshua was finally able to successfully roll forward and push Usyk back.
Joshua exploded in the sixth round, arguably his biggest throughout the match. He connected with two massive right hands, which gave him confidence in the succeeding rounds. However, Usyk refused to back down and answered in the seventh round with several big left hands.
From the eighth to tenth round, the Ukrainian regained his touches and started to circle Joshua before jumping in with double jabs, tiring the much bigger British champion.
In the championship rounds, both fighters appear to be fading with, ‘AJ’ getting desperate and firing big rights. However, Usyk's head and body movements were too much to overcome. Usyk ended the fight with a statement, throwing a barrage of power shots that sent Joshua to the ropes on unsteady legs.
Watch the full fight highlights of Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk:
Oleksandr Usyk thinks he could’ve KO’ed Anthony Joshua in their first fight
In a recent interview with Parimatch, Oleksandr Usyk discussed rocking Anthony Joshua in the final round of their first match.
The Ukrainian admitted that although he doesn't think much about the round, he thinks that he could have put the Brit away if there was more time on the clock. He said:
"Perhaps if there were another 30 seconds or another minute in the twelfth round, Anthony would have been knocked down. But I don’t think about it anymore, because it’s just guessing. It happened as it happened. I boxed twelve rounds and I won." [sic]
Full story from @ParimatchUK as Oleksandr Usyk speaks ahead of the Anthony Joshua rematch.
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