Anthony Joshua’s second reign as world heavyweight champion came to an end on Saturday night at Tottenham stadium in North London when Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk won a unanimous decision.
It appeared that Joshua never fully used his physical advantages over the smaller man, occasionally flicking out the jab and landing the occasional heavy punch. However, Usyk shrugged off the most serious of incoming fire and managed to dodge many strikes with his head movement and lateral footwork.
The 6’6 now former champion stayed in front of Usyk for the most part, but he was frequently caught with straight left hands and hooks that eventually resulted in a swelling of the left eye. Throughout the bout Joshua looked hesitant to unload and trade, electing to hold when he was caught flush.
The final round’s action was pretty much the same as it played out in the previous rounds, except for the final ten seconds when Usyk landed some heavy punches on a wilting Joshua. Once the bell had rang to signal the end of the bout there was pretty much no doubt that Oleksandr Usyk deserved to win.
This was confirmed when scores of 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 were read out to the fighters and the watching audiences, both on television and in person and Usyk was declared the victor.
In the post fight press conference, Joshua said he aims to exercise the rematch clause and said:
“I just look at myself and where I went wrong. So it’s not so much what he done, it’s the opportunities I gave him. I’m going to go back and look at myself and correct my wrongs.
“It was a good chess match. I’m a boxer and I wanted to out-box him, do certain things. And after my eye, man, in the ninth round — it was a great lesson, though. Great lesson. For me personally, I’m just learning this game. I’m learning, I’m studying. Eight rounds were going well, then the ninth a little issue happens in the fight. You’ve got to stay consistent. The other fighter starts putting up more pressure, picking up the pace, he can probably sense something. I’ll come back again. I’ll pick up where we left off now and try to be better, I’m sure I’ll be better in the next one.”
Usyk said to SKY after:
“I had no objective to knock him out because my trainer, in my corner, pushed me not to do that. In the beginning I hit him hard and tried to knock him out. But then my trainer said: ‘Just stop, and do your job’.”
“The fight went exactly the way I expected it to go. There were a couple of moments where Anthony pushed me hard. But nothing special.”
Discussing possible locations for the rematch, Usyk unsurprisingly wants it to be staged in his country.
“I would love to have the rematch at Olympiyskiy Stadium in Kiev,” Usyk said.
Earlier results:
Lawrence Okolie W Dilan Prasovic
Florian Marku W Maxim Prodan
Callum Smith W Gilbert Lenin Castillo
Christopher Ousley W Khasan Baysangurov
