WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua 24-1 (22) will have everything on the line when he faces former undisputed cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in Tottenham, England on Saturday night.
The 31-year-old Brit was expected to face countryman and WBC counterpart Tyson Fury 30-0-1 (21) in the northern summer before Fury was ordered to face American Deontay Wilder 42-1-1 (41) for a third time by an independent arbitrator.
While Fury, 33, will face the 35-year-old Wilder next month, Joshua has opted to face Ukrainian southpaw and WBO mandatory Usyk.
And despite outweighing Usyk by close to 20 pounds, Joshua will have his work cut out for him against the crafty and enigmatic boxer.
“I hope you guys are happy with the opponent choice because boxing needs it,” said Joshua, who weighed in at 240-pounds to Usyk’s 221-pounds.
“We’ve got other competitors in the market in the entertainment business and boxing is a great sport.
“It has great potential but without great fights, great matchups, it’ll never be able to reach its potential.”
Joshua was last in action in December when he knocked out IBF mandatory contender Kubrat Pulev in nine frames at Wembley Arena in London.
Usyk has had two fights at heavyweight since unifying all four major belts at cruiserweight and winning the World Boxing Super Series.
He stopped late replacement Chazz Witherspoon in seven rounds in Chicago in October 2019 and came on late to defeat gatekeeper Dereck Chisora on points in London one year later.
Joshua lost his three world championships to Andy Ruiz Jr by seventh-round knockout in his American debut at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden in June 2019.
He regained the titles in their immediate rematch in Saudi Arabia six months later with a wide unanimous points victory.
Joshua has promised a knockout victory of Usyk to keep his dreams of a rare four-belt unification fight against Fury alive.
When asked where he rates Usyk compared to his previous opponents, Joshua said that’s up to other people to decide.
“I’m not too sure, I leave that down to people’s opinion,” Joshua said. “For me, it’s just — I have to look at it as (just) another fight, I don’t look at it like anything special. This is just me versus him. I don’t really look at anything else other than that.
“I know what I’m doing. I know exactly what I’m doing. I know what I’m gonna do. I know… Knockout, Kronk style. When I watch things, I like Emanuel Stewart’s mindset. Obviously you’ve got to do your A’s and B’s and C’s but is you follow them they’ll lead to you to KO — and that’s what we’re here to do, put on a spectacular show.
“People want to see knockouts and that’s what we’ve got to deliver for the fans.”
