Anthony Joshua Set For Toughest Fight Against Oleksandr Usyk

Multiple Belt heavyweight Boxing Champion, Anthony Joshua, Saturday (today) at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium, London takes on Ukrainian opponent Oleksandr Usyk in what many outside boxing circles see as a walkover for the British champion: nothing more of a dress rehearsal for an impending mega million fight with the gypsy king Tyson Fury. In boxing circles however, not a few see this fight for what it would likely turn out to be – the acid test for AJ. There are many reasons for this.

Usyk, a glorified Cruiserweight is a sleek, fast and mobile boxer who throws relentless punches with both hands and never shies away from moving forward. Being a smaller fighter, he is adept at keeping out of harms ways, moving in and around his opponents with relative ease while trying to wear them out.

He is also undefeated after 18 fights and he has the mentality of a champion. Granted he has not had many fights with real heavyweights. But if his last bout with Dereck Chisora could be taken as a good case in point; well, he did not fare that badly. His victory notwithstanding, many fans left the fight venue with the impression that size does matter. And that was against a spent force in Chisora.

Conversely, Anthony Joshua, before he added lateral movements and a bit of weaving and bobbing to his style was an irresistible force: A modern day real heavyweight boxer cast in the mold of George Foreman with a sharper round house punch (left hook) and lots of power in both hands. He used to be an immovable object more or less, always out to out muscle his opponents with little care in the world about what was coming at him.

AJ, pre- Andy Ruiz jr loss easily reminds you of the Brazilian National team in the 90’s: always going for goals without bothering about what happens to the defence. This strategy turned most of AJ’s fights into sudden death encounters – a classic case of the first to blink. And this strength or weakness (depending on your view) showed up in his fight with Wladimir Klitschko and his loss to Andy Ruiz jr, a less fancied fighter who was ready to take the fight to AJ. He has since learnt from his mistake, avenged the defeat (a painful knockout) and moved on to be a better fighter.

On Saturday, AJ is set to climb into the ring with a tricky preposition in a southpaw and a dangerous one. Most orthodox prize fighters attest to the difficulty in going up against a fighter who is very familiar with their style but whose style is elusive. An average south-paw faces up to at 90% orthodox fighters in the course of their career but the orthodox fighter hardly enjoys this luxury as most hardly meet less than 5% natural southpaws.

Against Usyk, a static AJ would struggle. This is one opponent who can easily get under his skin. This is one opponent who is faster than he is, an opponent whose style he has not really adapted to. Yes, he has the power and ring experience to end this fight early as he has done to 22 of his 23 victims. But Usyk is not one of those opponents. This is a man that has also dominated a weight category that is only one notch below the heavyweight category.

Historically speaking, a good percentage of champions from the lower weights (light heavyweight and cruiserweight) lost in their foray into the heavyweight rank. From Archie Moore, Bob Foster to Dwight Muhammed Qawi. However, some other fighters like Roy Jones jr. (one off), Michael Spinks and Evander Holifield made successful transition into the rank of the bigger boys. So, on book form, Anthony Joshua should knock out Oleksandr Usyk around the middle rounds of the fight. All he needs do is impose his size and will on a smaller opponent and do it as early as possible.

But should this fight go the distance, it is unlikely that AJ will come out victorious. With his bulk, it will be difficult to maintain his competitive edge into the later rounds with someone who would try to tire him out. If Usyk boxes smart and keeps himself out of the line of sight of left hooks, round house punches and uppercuts into the closing stages of the fight, this fight may turn out a big surprise. One that will make AJ’s sole loss to Ruiz jr, a child’s play.