SportsRatings #2 Oleksandr Usyk vs. #3 Anthony Joshua fighting in Saudi Arabia in a rematch of their fight from last September where Usyk took Joshua's belts.
Usyk is 19-0-0 mostly at cruiserweight where he unified the belts; he's a gold medalist at heavyweight
Joshua is 24-2-0 as a pro after winning the gold in the super heavyweight division in the 2012 Olympics. He avenged his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. and now attempts to do the same against Usyk.
Neither would earn the SportsRatings belt with a win as Tyson Fury's "retirement" doesn't count; he's still considered "active" and neither is within striking distance of his rating. The winner will be ranked #2 in our system.
Round by Round scoring:
- Round One: Joshua looking so far like he's boxing "clean" rather than making it dirty, at least at the very early going. Jab from Joshua. Lots of pawing by Usyk. Kind of a stalemate right now at range. Good lunging punch by Usyk. Big clinch with pressure applied by Joshua, broken up by the ref. Like many first rounds, not enough happened to be used to decide the fight. 10-10
- Round Two: More of the chess match at range to start. Both are active, almost hyper by heavyweight standards, but not connecting with anything. Feigns all around. Joshua blocks Usyk's combo. Weak body shot by Joshua. Decent hook. Another decent hook by Joshua. Body shot by Joshua. Joshua not allowing openings so far. Jabbing as he moves forward. 1-2 by Usyk with a return by Joshua. 10-9 Joshua; 20-19
- Round Three: Joshua staying contained and careful. Usyk buzzing around him, but having some trouble with range so far. Some inside wrestling the ref allowed them to work it out. Joshua uppercut misses and Usyk connects with a straight shot. Inconclusive round, hopefully there aren't too many of these: 10-10; Joshua 30-29
- Round Four: Usyk comes out aggressively, backs off to buzzing around mode again. He's very hard to hit but Joshua's defense is solid too, not many shots of consequence getting through despite pretty high work rate. Usyk taking more chances now in the 4th, mixing it up more. AJ goes to the body. Hits Usyk's gloves hard. Constant head movement from Usyk, who connects with a good hook and good combo followup. He's throwing more actual punches this round instead of feigns and pawing. Good lunging punch to end the round. 10-9 Usyk; 39-39
- Round Five: Usyk connects, as does AJ. Good back and forth his round in the first minute. Body shot from AJ is low and the round is paused midway. Good bodyshot from AJ this time. Both are feigning a lot. Even round after 2 mins. More feigns and little action in the last minute. Another 10-10; 49-49. The scores might be all over the place.
- Round Six: AJ gets in a short shot after a lot of patience with Usyk's head movement. Lots of work for not much gain and Usyk gets it back. AJ trying to walk him down and has him against the ropes for a moment. Usyk pushes his way out to the center. AJ backing him up now but Usyk comes back swinging, mostly blocked by AJ. Another tough round to score but Joshua had the only brief moment of scoring. Joshua 10-9; 59-58
- Round Seven: AJ wrestles Usyk again then holds his head while punching, he's finally trying to make a "dirty" fight out of it as many expected. Swings a bit wild in chasing Usyk's movement. Good jab by Joshua. Both fighters missing most of the time still, or getting blocked. Lots of whiffs at the end. Once again I'm punting, to reflect how wide the scoring difference might be. 10-10; Joshua 69-68
- Round Eight: They're having trouble with the ring being wet like in the last fight. Stiff jab by Usyk. Good body shot by AJ. Three lefts in a row by Usyk connect, another body shot by AJ. Several head shots by Usyk, a big return by AJ. Volume certainly in Usyk favor, but body shots are bothering Usyk. Usyk is now getting through regularly, though nothing is hurting AJ yet. But he's slowing AJ down. They're really trading at the end in a fitful round. Usyk 10-9; 78-78
- Round Nine: Starting to think the Ukraine judge will have a wide UD for Usyk, the UK judge the same for AJ, and the other judge call it a draw. AJ is hunting Usyk now. AJ grabs back of Usyk's head again and delivers body shots. AJ gets thru with a few shots then ties him up. Close range fighting and AJ is going nuts, uppercuts and back of head shots, but he has Usyk in some trouble late in the round. Usyk spins away and resets and evades. Joshua's best round despite some questionable downward blows 10-9; Joshua 88-87
- Round Ten: Usyk very active to start the round. not letting Joshua capitalize on last round. A minute in he's doing some good work and has AJ a bit flustered, peppering him with quick shots. Big counter from AJ has Usyk stunned, AJ wrestles him though and ref intervenes. Great uppercut from Usyk but AJ takes it well. Now Usyk is adding the volume; Joshua looks tired now. A flurry by Usyk has AJ standing still. This round looked a lot like the previous fight. Usyk 10-9; 97-97
- Round Eleven: Usyk using his speed to confuse Joshua, who has tired but still gets in the body shots. Usyk is loading up on volume, Joshua going for the big shots. Back and forth round. Good jab by Usyk. More combos by Usyk. AJ is looking flustered like last fight, being outboxed. 10-9 Usyk; 107-106 Usyk
- Round Twelve: Big effort from both fighters at the start. Usyk sticking and moving as Joshua lunges in. The speed difference is notable now. Joshua catches Usyk with a left hook and two followups. Joshua stumbles as if going for a takedown against the ropes. Joshua jumps in and clinches again, twice trying to wrestle, a completely desparate move. Usyk is winning the boxing portion of the round though. AJ's attempts on making the fight dirty started way too late. This looks desperate by AJ and won't be well-received by the judges. Usyk 10-9; Usyk 117-115
Our score includes *four* 10-10 rounds, meaning we could have a split decision with AJ winning one card 115-113, and losing one card very wide, 117-111. The decisive card from our result would be 115-113 Usyk assuming no 10-10 rounds.
The judges say: 115-113 Joshua; 115-113 Usyk; and 116-112 Usyk, almost exactly what our scoring determined after apportioning the 10-10 rounds to each or splitting them.
Though Joshua did much better in this fight the result was largely the same, and he loses two in a row and is no longer one of the very top tier names in the heavyweight division. Now it's Fury and Usyk and everyone else.
Joshua is really leading the charge to celebrate Usyk's win, makes one wonder what his future plans are.
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