IBO/IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight Rematch Challenge
Tonight’s Heavyweight Championship rematch between Undefeated Unified IBO/IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk (20-0, 13 Kos) and former Heavyweight Champion Anthony Joshua (24-3, 22 Kos) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, definitely lived up to the hype.
This highly anticipated bout was a continuation from their last meeting but this time Joshua, with a new trainer by his side, performed exceptionally better then his last outing. This time around AJ had a much better “game plan” and proceeded to execute it well but Usyk with his country of Ukraine at war on his mind, fought with all his people on the back of his shoulders and performed remarkably well with the added pressure.
That being said, AJ’s “game plan” was the right way to go about it in this bout but as the rounds progressed AJ seemed to divert from the plan at hand at times as Usyk proved to be just as elusive with his boxing skill on full display figuring AJ out as the rounds advanced.
AJ had some moments where he had the upper hand but neglected to capitalize and finish the job as the bigger and stronger man inside that squared circle and those critical times were key to him having that window of success.
Usyk weathered the storm and fought through the adversity and like the great technical combatant that he is managed to turn things around while never losing focus or confidence inside that squared circle.
This bout was a much closer outing then their last encounter but the deciding factors to me were the championship rounds where Usyk separated himself from AJ by being the much busier combatant in the most important rounds.
Both combatants showed fatigue in the later rounds but Usyk closed it out with pure will and effort in my eyes. After 12 full rounds of none stop action, the Judges scored it 116-112, 115-113 for Usyk and 115-113 for Joshua giving the split decision win to Oleksandr Usyk.
With this second win over AJ under his belt, Usyk retained his IBO/IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight Championship belts and picked up the prestigious Ring Magazine belt for good measure.
Had Anthony stuck to the original “game plan” and not gassed out, we definitely could have seen a different outcome but the superior warrior in Oleksandr Usyk prevailed and completed the task at hand.
Congratulations Oleksandr on your latest accomplishment, well done.
Blaze