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Oleksandr Usyk’s boxing expertise and his combat IQ led him to a surprisingly straightforward victory over Anthony Joshua on Sept. 27 and made him the unified heavyweight champion.
However he’ll have much more going for him when he defends the IBF-WBA-WBO titles in an Aug. 20 rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, than simply his capacity to field.
His nation, Ukraine, is at battle with Russia and defending itself in opposition to an invasion. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have been displaced and 1000’s have died. Usyk was in England when the battle started, and hopped on the primary flight house to affix the nationwide protection.
It’s been a horrible time for Ukrainians, as Russian troopers and army leaders have been accused of a sequence of battle crimes and have attacked civilian, in addition to army, places.
Usyk will return to the ring and never solely have the boldness that he’s crushed Joshua as soon as, but additionally buoyed by the resiliency of his countrymen and the need to ship a optimistic message to a war-weary nation.
“As everyone knows, we’re not in the perfect circumstances for the time being again house,” Usyk stated Tuesday at a information convention in Saudi Arabia to formally announce the combat.
He’ll face a rejuvenated Joshua, who has misplaced the belt earlier than solely to reclaim it in, of all locations, Saudi Arabia. Twice in his final 4 fights, Joshua has been crushed and misplaced his titles. On June 1, 2019, Joshua was knocked out within the seventh spherical by Andy Ruiz Jr.
And on Sept. 27, 2021, he was given a boxing lesson by Usyk.
He avenged the Ruiz loss on Dec. 7, 2019, although Ruiz made it straightforward for him. Ruiz mainly partied his approach out of the title, coming in at a way-too-big 283 kilos and in no situation to combat on the highest degree. Joshua was robotic and stiff, however he boxed sufficient to beat a extremely diminished Ruiz.
On the information convention Tuesday, Joshua referred to the losses to Ruiz and Usyk as “blips.” His new coach, Robert Garcia, heaped reward on him and predicted victory.
Joshua confirmed loads of confidence, nevertheless it’s essential to notice that he’s by no means publicly proven self-doubt earlier than any combat, even the 2 that he misplaced.
“Undoubtedly the starvation continues to be there,” Joshua stated. “I’ve at all times stated from the get-go, keep hungry [and] maintain the motivation excessive. Blips occur. Issues occur, however resilience, psychological toughness and consistency will at all times prevail. So we’re nonetheless on the highway, for positive. It was just a bit blip within the highway, however I’m centered on the goal, which is sitting over there. I’m centered on the purpose and God prepared, I’ll carry out and turn out to be three-time heavyweight champion of the world.
“With Andy Ruiz, I feel lots of people may see issues weren’t proper, weren’t 100%, earlier than the combat. However you’ve bought to be robust, thick-skinned and take our losses like a person.”
The 2 losses he suffered have been on reverse ends of the spectrum. He had a foul camp earlier than the Ruiz combat and was sloppy within the match. Ruiz has quick arms and might punch and he landed an ideal shot that damage Joshua and he by no means recovered till it was too late.
Towards Usyk, although, he fought a boxer who was far superior, each in expertise and in Ring IQ. He was outclassed in that combat by an enormous margin. Getting that one again is just not going to be as straightforward because it was within the rematch with Ruiz.
Usyk is a vastly underrated fighter for some purpose. He gained a heavyweight gold medal on the identical 2012 Olympic Video games that Joshua gained an excellent heavyweight gold. Usyk beat now-unified mild heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev, in addition to heavyweight Michael Hunter, alongside the way in which.
He gained the undisputed cruiserweight title, beating high quality opponents Marco Huck, Mairis Breidis and Murat Gassiev, earlier than he went to heavyweight. After defeating Joshua, he owns three of the 4 main heavyweight belts and with WBC champion Tyson Fury insisting he’s retired, he’s clearly the person within the sport’s hottest division.
Garcia is aware of what Joshua is up in opposition to.
“Usyk is a good fighter,” Garcia stated. “He’s bought expertise. He’s bought reflexes. He’s bought accuracy. He’s bought every thing, however I feel Anthony’s bought all of the instruments to beat him.”
Joshua is, in some ways, the prototype heavyweight. He’s large, however retains his quickness and agility regardless of his muscular 6-foot-6, 245-pound body. He can punch with the perfect of them and field when it’s referred to as upon.
However in Usyk, he’s going through what could nicely change into a generational fighter, however one who has oodles of motivation. Proving his first win isn’t a fluke, as many have speculated, is the least amongst them.
It is a man who was prepared to sacrifice every thing for his nation, who flew to the battle and never away from it.
A win by a countryman in a sporting occasion isn’t going to materially change the lives of Ukrainians, however it’s going to give them a second of brightness and nationwide satisfaction at a very powerful time.
Joshua is proficient sufficient to win the combat, however he’ll need to beat an opponent who could by no means have been extra impressed to win than he’s now along with his nation desperately preventing to save lots of its freedom.
That’s a fairly robust man to beat.
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