#2 Anthony Joshua takes on #23 Oleksandr Usyk in London, England. Both fighters have beaten every man they've faced.
Joshua, 31, is 24-1 with an avenged loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. He is the SportsRatings interim heavyweight belt holder as #1 ranked Tyson Fury is currently considered inactive.
Usyk, 34, is undefeated at 18-0 with all but a few of those wins coming at Cruiserweight where he was the undisputed champion, unifying all the belts—a rarity today. He is only #23 as he has won only two fights at Heavyweight. He has wins over Chazz Witherspoon and Dereck Chisora.
With Usyk's movement and unorthodox style (including his southpaw stance), we see a fight that will be difficult to score and might cause controversy if it goes to a decision. It might most closely resemble Joshua's decision win over Joseph Parker. But predictions from the experts are all over the place; no one has solved Usyk yet, but he has a big size disadvantage and bears no resemblance to the one person able to beat Joshua so far.
The fight should begin on DAZN just after 5:00pm eastern time (USA). ETA is 5:15 as announcements are being made at 5:00pm.
Note: Having some trouble updating on Typepad, so round-by-round results might be slightly behind.
- Round One: Joshua comes to the middle fast, good left to the face from Usyk! Lots of jab-hand pawing as expected given the orthodox vs. southpaw matchup. Good right from Joshua at the midpoint. Good left from Usyk again, and 1-2 followup. Big whiff from Joshua misses by a hair. Usyk dancing all around Joshua who pivots in the center. Usyk jumps in with a left late in the round and probably wins the first round. Usyk 10-9.
- Round Two: Joshua trying to establish the jab now. Hectic pace but little contact overall. Usyk jabs with the right hand. Joshua putting jab out but Usyk's movement making it hard to connect. Usyk staying outside, lunging in, mostly not connecting though. Gets a left in. Good shot to the body by Joshua. Another left from Usyk. Close round, 10-10; Usyk 20-19.
- Round Three: Body shot from Usyk maybe connects. Decent right from Joshua, Usyk undeterred. This is going to be hard to score. Usyk connects with a couple of strong shots! Doesn't hurt joshua but scores. Frenetic pace continues. Body shot by Usyk, he dodges return shots. Joshua having trouble finding him. Joshua is leaving jabs short and haning, another good shot from Usyk, and another that hurts him! Joshua has good shot near the end but round definitely to Usyk 10-9; Usyk 30-28.
- Round Four: Joshua slips after punch connects early. Joshua having trouble getting used to Usyk's movement, another jab hits him. Usyk attacking from various angles, mostly missing but confusing Joshua. Jab/hook connects for Usyk. Joshua connects with perhaps his best punch, and first clinch of the fight initiated by Joshua. Body shot from Usyk. Joshua jab gets 2 from Usyk in return. Close round, AJ did better but didn't really win it. 10-10; Usyk 40-38.
- Round Five: Uppercut from Usyk. Fighters slowing movement a bit, and more shots are connecting though with little effect. Big swing an miss from Joshua. AJ's jabs are looking better, but Usyk connects with a left. Left cross misses though. Good body shot from Joshua. Usyk connects right on the chin, AJ returns fire. Fighters trading glancing jabs, now swinging wildly from both men to end the round! Both fought well and we punt again. 10-10. Usyk 50-48.
- Round Six: The cards are going to be all over, we predict. Usyk defending more early in the round as Joshua jabs. Is he slowing down? Delivers a jab with less activity. Joshua making him miss a bit more. Both fighters missing a lot but then on cue both of them connect. Joshua connects with extended jab. Joshua probably wins that one, his first clear round. Joshua 10-9; Usyk 59-58
- Round Seven: Usyk jab the first big moment in round 7. Good right too. Another jab from Usyk, it seems he took the last round off to rest and is re-energized. Jab and left cross from Usyk. Another jab and two swings, one connects with the left. BIG left knocks AJ back several steps as he almost trips. Usyk unloading with several connections. Big round for Usyk, clearest round yet 10-9. Usyk 10-9, 69-67.
- Round Eight: Not much happens in first minute. Big body punch from AJ. Jab from Usyk. Joshua trying to establish ring dominance now with body shots. Usyk swings wild and misses in combination. Another body shot from AJ, and another. Joshua narrowly takes that one. Joshua 10-9; Usyk 78-77.
- Round Nine: First referee warning for...something. Fighters jabbing at range, AJ whiffs on big shot. Usyk rushes in for body shot, Joshua ties up for only 2nd time in fight. No one is connecting much at all as they're both at range. Joshua holds back of Usyk's neck, they break. Usyk lookng a bit tired but delivers a good left. Another too-close round that many will score either way. 10-10; Usyk 88-87.
- Round Ten: Did Usyk rest up last round? He's pretty active coming into the 10th. Joshua looks pretty fresh too. Usyk with big left, both look strong right now. Both jabbing with confidence in home stretch rounds. Left hand from Usyk scores. Jab from Usyk, right hand from Joshua. Close round halfway through. Big cut under Usyk's eye, fighters clinch and rest a bit. RIght hand from AJ, he sees blood, literally. Ref separeates them. Three strong shots from Usyk though. Both fighters eyes are hurt, another close round, we punt yet again. 10-10; Usyk 98-97.
- Round Eleven: These last two rounds will decide it. Usyk full of energy early, big shot from Usyk, Joshua undeterred, he's got energy too and returns fire. Both have slowed down by the end of the first minute. AJ coming on now as Usyk dodges. AJ is jabbing well now. Lots of movement and little connection until Usyk gets in a right with a minute left. Misses on several swinging lefts and rights. Joshua standing still a bit too much now. Joshua started well but Usyk finished a lot better. Usyk 10-9, 108-106.
- Round Twelve: Usyk going crazy coming at AJ. Fight could go either way as we have five 10-10 rounds but on our card AJ needs a knockdown to get a draw even. Both are connecting, first Usyk and now Joshua a bit more. Usyk backing Joshua up halfway thru round. And again. AJ needs a big shot, needs to take some chances which he's not doing. Gets in a a good right though, and another one. Great jab by Usyk. Usyk slowing down a bit but turns it back on. Swinging like mad at the end, has AJ on the ropes at the finish! Usyk clearly wins the round, and probably the fight. 10-9, Usyk 118-115.
If we split our 10-10 rounds that translates to 116-112 or 115-113 for Usyk. Making three "extreme" cards we have Usyk 118-110, Usyk 115.5-112.5, and Joshua 115-113 on a split decision.
Waiting for the decision.
Decision: 117-112, 116-112, 115-113 all for Usyk. Oleksandr Usyk remains undefeated and takes Joshua's belts. He will jump to #2 on our rankings, and becomes our interim Heavyweight Champion—pending results of Fury-Wilder III. Amazing.
Our 3-round margin was close to the 3.7 average margin of the judges. The 117-112 score probably included a 10-10 round adding an extra point. It went about as we expected in terms of being difficult to judge, but the result went to Usyk and unlike we thought, it seems unlikely to be a controversial result as Usyk came on strong in the final rounds to secure the win.
It looks like we have a 3rd man in the mix for best heavyweight in the world, and for the moment, it's between Usyk and Fury.
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