As predicted by RovingNaija on Saturday, World Heavyweight Champion, Anthony Joshua was upset by challenger Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine after twelve pulsating rounds of their title fight at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday in London.
Joshua lost via a unanimous decision of 117 -112, 116-122 and 115 – 113 on the score cards of the three judges to put a halt to any immediate prospects of an eagerly awaited unification fight with WBC champion, Tyson Fury.
Coming into the fight many did not fancy the chance of the former undisputed Cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk against the more fancied AJ. But, Usyk did everything he needed to do on the night to strip the WBO, IBF and IBO belts from the bigger AJ who was forced to learn some boxing lessons from his smaller, more skillful and faster opponent.
Away from the defeat, Anthony Joshua (AJ) is already looking into the future with our without his belts.
Promoter Eddie Hearns has hinted that AJ would fancy an immediate rematch with Usyk to get his belts backs.
“Anthony Joshua will want an immediate rematch with Oleksandr Usyk,” he said in an interview with Sky Sports.
The former champion also admitted this much in the interview saying that he would like the rematch with Usyk, “100 percent, 110 percent. “
“I am ready to get back to training. Because of the 12 rounds, my lungs and everything, it was a good 12-rounder, so I’ll be in a good place when I get back into training to pick up where we left off,” he added.
But AJ is also looking to a future even without his belts.
“The belts are fun.,” he said. “Its great, its legacy. But with or without the belts, I’ll fight whoever. The road to undisputed is a nice title to have and a nice title to chase.
Its not hard to tell, who AJ is looking forward to a fight with. The Self-styled Gypsy King, Tyson Fury is supposed to be the next on the card for a unification fight before Usyk happened along and Deontay Wilder is also a juicy prospect for a clash with AJ.
These much AJ has also admitted: “As I said, I’ll fight Tyson Fury, Wilder without the belts.”
But the nature of boxing is unpredictable especially for an ex champion. While Anthony Joshua was the guy to beat while he held many titles, he has been knocked off the exalted perch as the main draw and he would need more than wishful thinking to attract a fight from either Fury or Wilder, two smart business men who would rather go for the jugulars of the current three belt champion, Usyk, instead of risking a fight with a wounded AJ.
Looking Back: Blow By Blow Account of AJ’s Loss To Oleksandr Usyk:
The fight opened with the two boxers sizing each other up with AJ choosing to crouch level with Usyk by adopting a wider stance instead of standing tall to impose his height. Taking the invitation Usyk boxed round AJ and kept his movement fluid and unpredictable, AJ looked tentative and ineffective. He failed to make any impact with his jab and consistently touch jab instead of hitting or lashing out at his opponent.
In the third round, Usyk found a chink in the armoury of the champion and surprised AJ with a powerful right which went straight through the guard of champion. Stunned and shaken, the champion struggled to get his composure and all attempts to return the favour were of little effect.
Usyk maintained the tempo from the fourth into the middle rounds as AJ became desperate, trying to land a big right to end the fight early sensing that his opponent was trying to force him into a long drawn battle. This was not to be although the champion landed big in the sixth but he failed to follow up.
In the night round, the challenger connected with a vicious left which again shook the champion who barely managed to hang on for dear life.
AJ would say about this sucker punch during the post-fight interview that his eye was closed in the night round:
“From the ninth round, I couldn’t see in the ninth round. Couldn’t see anything really. “My eye was shut, but it was a good experience because in adversity you’ve got to learn to control yourself, stay on top of things, so when I couldn’t see anything, it’s the first time it’s happened in a fight.
“I was thinking, ‘alright, cool. It’s the first time my eye has closed up in a fight. I can’t see nothing.”
An exhausted AJ got into trouble again in the 11th round and was lucky to avoid a knockout in the closing seconds of the 12th round when Usyk connected with a combo of punches to emerge victorious on the scorecard of the three judges.
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