Usyk beats Joshua by split decision
WBA, IBF, WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) retained his titles with a twelve round split decision over Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) on Saturday night at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Joshua came out with some new tricks learned from new trainer Robert Garcia. It took Usyk a few rounds to adjust. Joshua’s body attack was much improved from the first fight, however, and Uysk became noticeably slower as the fight progressed and Joshua took over completely in round nine. Usyk changed his tactics again and unloaded on Joshua in round ten, which kept Joshua from doing more body damage. Usyk took the fight to Joshua in the championship rounds. Scores were 115-113 Joshua, 115-113, 116-112 Usyk.
So much for AJ being aggressive and throwing power shots. He tried the body attack to win, and almost pulled it off. Good decision win for Usyk.
I still think Usyk is very good, but not top drawer. Hopefully JP beats JJ (twice) and fights Usyk.
Usyk digs deep to defeat Joshua and retain world titles for Ukraine
Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk retained his world heavyweight titles with a split decision win over Anthony Joshua on Sunday in a rematch in Saudi Arabia that was closer than last year’s first fight.
Both fighters held up the blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag as the judges’ scores were read out at King Abdullah Sport City arena in Jeddah. When he was declared the winner, Usyk hid his face behind the flag.
The 35-year-old Usyk kept his WBA, WBO and IBF belts six months after serving in the Ukrainian army as part of the country’s defence against Russia’s invasion.
Usyk appeared to have the fight under control through the middle rounds, but seemed hurt in round 9 when Joshua had good success with both hands against Usyk's body.
However, Usyk responded with an outstanding performance in the 10th, dominating Joshua and regaining control.
Joshua had no answer and while the Brit tried to put the pressure on in the 12th and final round, Usyk had done enough to win.
Using the outstanding head and feet movement he showed in his first win over Joshua in London, southpaw Usyk got results with a check right hook and a left down the middle. In the end he had too many offensive weapons backed up with a near impregnable defence.
One judge gave the fight 115-113 to Joshua, with the two others scoring it 116-112 and 115-113 to Usyk.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn felt the result was a fair one, saying he would have scored it 115-113 to Usyk.
"I'm not sure anyone can beat Oleksandr Usyk. This man is an incredible fighter," Hearn said.
The scenes after the fight took a slightly bizarre turn when Joshua walked back to the ring, demanded the microphone and in a profanity-laden speech praised Usyk and spoke about how hard his opponent must have worked to beat him.
(08-21-2022, 01:31 PM)diehard Wrote: [ -> ]So much for AJ being aggressive and throwing power shots. He tried the body attack to win, and almost pulled it off. Good decision win for Usyk.
I still think Usyk is very good, but not top drawer. Hopefully JP beats JJ (twice) and fights Usyk.
So whats top drawer then haha.
The guy is just too good.
(08-21-2022, 10:18 PM)African Monkey Wrote: [ -> ] (08-21-2022, 01:31 PM)diehard Wrote: [ -> ]So much for AJ being aggressive and throwing power shots. He tried the body attack to win, and almost pulled it off. Good decision win for Usyk.
I still think Usyk is very good, but not top drawer. Hopefully JP beats JJ (twice) and fights Usyk.
So whats top drawer then haha.
The guy is just too good.
Of the current crop, Tyson Fury.
Anthony Joshua hurls belts in fury after losing world title fight to Oleksandr Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk was pushed hard by Anthony Joshua, winning a split decision to retain his heavyweight titles.
Vanquished heavyweight title challenger Anthony Joshua threw two of champion Oleksandr Usyk’s belts out of the ring after losing to the Ukrainian for a second time.
Joshua lost a split points decision in Saudi Arabia on Saturday (Sunday NZT) and was seen, in a video posted by Sky Sports, to throw the belts to the ground before storming out of the arena in Jeddah.
The 32-year-old, who later hailed Usyk as a “generational champion’’, remonstrated with his team as he left the ring.
But a clearly emotional Joshua returned moments later to grab the microphone and address the crowd with a bizarre speech.
“I ain't no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth.
“I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a..e off, I wanted to be able to fight.
“I'm stealing this [microphone] Usyk I'm sorry, but it's because of the passion we put into this.
Anthony Joshua throws two belts out of the ring as he loses temper after defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.
“This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.
“This guy here is a phenomenal talent, we're going to cheer for him three times.”
Usyk, speaking through a translator, also had praise for Joshua.
Anthony Joshua holds two of Oleksandr Usyk’s belts after losing their title fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“This is already history,” he said. “Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard.
“But I stood up to it and turned it in a different way.”
The defeat is the third of Joshua’s professional career and second in succession. His record now stands at 24-3, with 22 knockouts.
Usyk is 20-0 with 13 KOs and widely considered the pound-for-pound best fighter in the sport having unified the cruiserweight division before moving up heavyweight and capturing three of the four belts.
"?????????? ??? ???????!" ?
He called for a fight with WBC champion Tyson Fury to find an undisputed champion, should the unbeaten Englishman plan to fight on.
Fury immediately responded to the challenge on social media, saying “it was one of the worst heavyweight title fights I've ever seen” and he would “annihilate both of them on the same night”.
Get your f...ing chequebook out cause the Gypsy King is here to stay forever!” Fury said in an X-rated post.
In the post-fight press conference, Joshua was close to tears and had to let his promoter Eddie Hearn step in to answer a few questions while he regained his composure.
When asked if he was “proud” of his performance, Joshua said he was “upset deep down in my heart” before choking up as the assembled media applauded the former champion.
He covered his face while Hearn asked the journalists to direct some questions his way. Joshua resumed answering questions shortly after and vowed to fight on.
He said he hoped to be back in the ring in November or December and planned to stay busy from now on.
Joshua went on to explain his outburst, saying he was “mad at myself not anybody else” and felt he had to get out of the ring before he did something he would regret.
“When you’re angry you might do stupid things, but then I realised oh s..t this is sport, let me do the right thing.
“I just spoke from my heart. It’s been so tough,” Joshua said, his voice cracking with emotion.
“You see AJ holding it together, I’m a hustler so I try and put things together, make sure my team is good. But it comes at a cost, a big cost.
“It will never break me, but it takes real strength not to break you. Tonight, there’s a little crack in the armour, because I took a loss, and I think you just saw me upset. With the speech, I was just speaking about where I’d come from.”
Anthony Joshua: I was in a dark place
Former heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has commented on social media about his bizarre meltdown in the ring following his loss to current champion Oleksandr Usyk last night in Saudi Arabia.
I wish @usykaa (Oleksandr Usyk) continued success in your quest for greatness. You are a class act champ.
Yesterday I had to mentally take myself into a dark place to compete for the championship belts! I had two fights, one with Usyk and one with my emotions and both got the better of me.
I’ll be the first to admit, I let myself down. I acted out of pure passion and emotion – and when not controlled, it ain’t great.
I love this sport so so much and I’ll be better from this point on.
Respect