On Saturday night, Oleksandr Usyk provided a masterclass of beating the bigger man when dethroning the now-former heavyweight champion, Anthony Joshua.
The outstanding Ukrainian dominated Joshua for spells in the contest to take a unanimous decision on the road again.
Usyk crowned himself the king of the division given the inactivity of Tyson Fury and now has a clutch of title belts in his possession.
“Mr. I Am Feel” took the contest to AJ from off, pumping out the jab and bamboozling the bigger man. Usyk again exposed Joshua’s distinct lack of confidence to take over fights at this level.
Like against Andy Ruiz Jr. when the American-Mexican blasted him out, Joshua could not turn to a plan b for what transpired in the ring.
Even before the contest, and like when facing Ruiz, Joshua looked tentative when entering the ring and didn’t seem to be present in the room.
Usyk took it to the champion and was in control for large portions of the contest – to his credit. He rode Joshua’s attempts to land a haymaker and hurt the ex-ruler on many occasions.
His record on the road stakes a strong case for being the pound for pound number one ahead of Canelo Alvarez. At present, though, he may have to make do with the number two spot.
OLEKSANDR USYK REMATCH
Even with a rematch looming, it will take a better technician than Joshua to overthrow Usyk – if he’s on top of his game.
Hopefully, those involved will stage the second fight on neutral soil as this is the least Usyk deserves.
That performance ranks up there with the most impressive mandatory world title fights with a significant weight difference for some years.
It couldn’t have happened to a more likable and fascinating man in Usyk.
WBN predicted that Usyk may be fighting Deontay Wilder for the undisputed title in 2022. We are halfway there.
