Oleksandr Usyk stepped inside the ring to defend his unified heavyweight titles against Anthony Joshua in a twelve-round rematch that took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. After their first fight ended in Usyk completely dominating Joshua and winning the bout via unanimous decision, it is needless to say that AJ was aiming for revenge.
The British heavyweight did much well this time around as he worked around Oleksandr’s body and had his moments in the fight. However, despite showing a much improved performance in the rematch, AJ fell short in a closely contested fight which went to the distance once again as the judges scored the contest in favour of the champion.
The British heavyweight learnt from his mistakes and changed his game plan for the rematch. Unlike the first fight where The Cat controlled the tempo of the matchup from the very beginning, Joshua started aggressively and didn’t allow the champion to get into a rhythm.
He pushed Usyk back and landed some good strikes to win the first couple of rounds. However, the Ukrainian heavyweight constantly swayed away from a lot of shots in the third round and gained control of the fight. The matchup was very close as both the heavyweights were trading blows.
USYK ABSOLUTELY LAYS IT ON ANTHONY JOSHUA 🤯#UsykJoshua2 #RageOnTheRedSea pic.twitter.com/ol0s5oeY6G
— DAZN Boxing (@DAZNBoxing) August 20, 2022
But it was Usyk who was much busier amongst the two heavyweights. Although the tide of the fight changed in the ninth round as Joshua had the champion on the ropes as he landed some good shots. It seemed like AJ would handle the business in the tenth round, but Usyk sparked a huge turnaround as he attacked Joshua with a barrage of punches.
The British heavyweight was fatigued in the championship rounds and Oleksandr Usyk took full advantage of this and dominated the championship rounds. The rematch was much closer than the first fight as both the heavyweights had their opportunities to finish their opponents.
Oleksandr Usyk wants to fight Tyson Fury next after beating Anthony Joshua in the rematch
After edging past Anthony Joshua in the rematch via split decision and successfully defending his unified heavyweight titles, Oleksandr Usyk revealed what’s next in store for him in the post fight interview.
Initially, the Ukrainian heavyweight boxer thanked his supporters and everyone present in the arena. Thereafter Usyk expressed his desire to fight Tyson Fury in a undisputed heavyweight title matchup.
“I devote this victory to my country!” 💙💛
Oleksandr Usyk’s emotional post-fight interview after a ‘historic’ victory 👊 pic.twitter.com/ekXXN4DjtW
— Sky Sports Boxing (@SkySportsBoxing) August 20, 2022
“I am sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet. I am sure, I am convinced he wants to fight me. I wanna fight him and if I am not fighting Tyson Fury, I am not fighting at all.”
Usyk was very confident in the interview that Fury has not retired and is interested to fight him. It would be interesting to see what The Gypsy King has to say after watching Usyk vs Joshua 2.
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