Sunday, September 26th 2021
Sensation in front of 60,000 fans
Joshua crashes against Usyk
Actually, it should only be a compulsory task for the defending champion: But in front of 60,000 spectators, the Ukrainian Alexander Usyk dominates the boxing world champion Anthony Joshua. This not only comes as a surprise, but also a big dream moves into the distance.
Boxing world champion Anthony Joshua crashed on his way to unifying all the major heavyweight belts. The 31-year-old Brit was surprisingly defeated by Ukrainian Alexander Usyk on points on Saturday evening in London. Joshua lost the titles of the WBA, WBO and IBF associations and has to bury the dream of a mega-fight against WBC champion Tyson Fury for the time being.
The outstanding technician Usyk had clear size and weight disadvantages compared to Joshua. That is why the 34-year-old relied on his speed against the world champion, who was three years his junior, and started the fight dominantly. Joshua was impressed, boxed too passively and got off balance for the first time in the fourth round. Only then did Joshua catch himself up and make the duel more balanced. But while Usyk was still able to improve in the final stages, Joshua failed to land effective hits.
For Joshua it was the second defeat (24 wins) in the 26th professional fight after he sensationally against the American Andy Ruiz jr. had lost due to technical knockout. About half a year later, Joshua got his title back. In his only fight in 2020, he beat the Bulgarian Kubrat Pulew on December 12th in the ninth round knockout
For Usyk, the triumph at Tottenham Stadium in front of 60,000 fans means the greatest success of his career. The world-class technician, now unbeaten in 19 professional fights, had already been the undisputed cruiserweight world champion before he was promoted to the premier class in 2019.
A duel between Joshua and Fury had already been planned. But for contractual reasons, Fury has to face ex-world champion Deontay Wilder (USA) for a third time on October 9th, whom he dethroned in February 2020. As a result, Joshua first got into the ring against WBO mandatory challenger Usyk. With Joshua’s defeat, a Fury fight should have moved into the distance again, especially since a rematch against Usyk can be assumed.