By Lourence Alturino
Image from DAZN.com
The sequel to Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua is here and the stakes have risen. The pair last faced off in September of 2021, where Usyk would come out on top with a dominant decision victory to become the Unified Heavyweight champion. The British star is now on a mission to reclaim his belts, but will he succeed? Or will the Ukrainian world champion retain his newly found gold?
Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs)
Oleksandr Usyk is one of the most accomplished boxers in the game. Former undisputed world champion at Cruiserweight (200 lbs), 2011 and 2012 Olympic Gold-medalist, and now the unified champion in the biggest division. All of this, along with his tremendous skill, makes him the #1 pound for pound boxer in my opinion.
Usyk is incredibly calculated and intelligent. Usyk is a puzzle in that ring that is difficult to solve. Keeping his opponent guessing by showing various looks, while throwing punches in bunches for all 12 rounds. He has appeared to put on some more muscle for this fight, so he maybe looking to finish Joshua this time around. The cards are definitely in Usyk's favor to win once again.
Keys for Usyk:
- Counter the expected aggression
- Beware of body shots
Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs)
Anthony Joshua is going through a lot of adversity in this fight, but if there is someone who can fight through that, it's Anthony Joshua. From being knocked down in the Klitschko fight to losing to Andy Ruiz Jr. in their first fight, Joshua has always found a way to get a win. Rematches after a loss is not unfamiliar territory to him as he came back to defeat Ruiz Jr. in their second fight. However, Usyk is vastly different from Ruiz Jr.
Joshua played it safe and outboxed his opponent in that fight, which is exactly what he attempted in the first Usyk fight. That did not go well for him at all, so a complete game plan change is in need. Joshua needs to be more aggressive in this fight, put the pressure, and not allow Usyk to outbox him. Robert Garcia has been brought in to be Anthony's head coach for this fight and it was a great decision to do so. Garcia's entire coaching philosophy is to apply pressure, attack the body, and set up power shots with combinations. Joshua needs to implement this in order to regain the titles.
Keys for Joshua:
- Be aggressive from the first bell
- Attack the body relentlessly
Breakdown:
To reiterate, Anthony has to be aggressive from the very start of the fight. Give Usyk zero space to create his angles. Usyk has shown a weakness to body shots, therefore making it something he needs to do utilize to neutralize the high work rate from the opposition. This is a strategy that fellow heavyweight, Derek Chisora used against Usyk and it worked fairly well.
Though, Oleksandr was able to adjust and go on to win that fight. If Usyk is to hurt Joshua early, that will definitely slow down the pressure and make the British superstar be cautious yet again.
Final Prediction:
Can Anthony Joshua make the necessary adjustments to recapture unified status or will Usyk get his second win over Joshua to keep the belts? Going for the latter here. I believe Joshua will remain aggressive throughout the early rounds, but not be able to put Usyk out. This will then tire out Joshua and that's when Usyk will takeover. The volume will be too much for Joshua and he gets stopped. Predicting Oleksandr Usky via TKO in the 9th round.
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