Krzysztof Głowacki vs. Oleksandr Usyk on September 17

By Boxing News - 06/22/2016 - Comments

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By Jeff Aranow: Unbeaten WBO cruiserweight champion Krzysztof Głowacki (26-0, 16 KOs) and #1 WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk (9-0, 9 KOs) met earlier on Wednesday for their press conference in Warsaw, Poland to speak about their fight on September 17 at the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, Poland.

The two unbeaten fighters faced off with each other, and you could see that the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk was the bigger looking guy of the two. Usyk smiled in a way that showed that he’s confident of hanging the 29-year-old Glowacki his first defeat of his career. Glowacki surprised a lot of boxing fans with his 11th round knockout win over longtime WBO champion Marco Huck last year in August 2015.

Glowacki knocked Huck down twice in the 11th round to get the stoppage win. Huck fought carelessly and that led to him getting hurt in round 11. Glowacki had been knocked down in round six, and he was struggling from that point on until coming back to get the stoppage in the 11th. Huck was ahead on the scorecards by the scores of 96-93, 95-94 and 96-93.

Glowacki would have lost that fight if Huck had fought with discipline in the last two rounds. It’s going to be much tougher for Glowacki against the 6’3” Usyk, because he’s taller, stronger and a far better boxer than Huck. He won’t make the same mistakes that Huck did in his fight against Glowacki, and he’s going to use his size and boxing skills to his advantage in this fight. This match could turn out to be a real one-sided affair with Usyk winning every round and either knocking Glowacki out or pitching a shutout.

Usyk, 29, would appear to be the biggest threat to Glowacki right now in the WBO’s rankings. If Glowacki can get by Usyk, he would only need to worry about Mairis Briedis and Murat Gassiev. Those two contenders stand out as the two most dangerous fighters to Glowacki if he can defeat Usyk.

Glowacki defeated former IBF cruiserweight champion Steve Cunningham by a 12 round unanimous decision last April. Glowacki knocked Cunningham down four times in putting him on the canvas twice in round two, and once in the 10th and 12th rounds. What’s interesting here is that despite the four knockdowns, Glowacki won by the scores of 115-109, 115-109 and 116-108.

When Glowacki wasn’t able to knock Cunningham down, he was losing rounds from being out-worked and out-boxed. That tells you that Glowacki is one of those fighters that needs to score knockdowns for him to have a chance of winning rounds. He’s not someone that is going to be able to out-box a lot of guys.

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In winning a gold medal in the 2012 summer Olympics in London, Usyk defeated Artur Beterbiev of Russia by 17-13 score in the quarterfinal, Tervel Pulev [Bulgaria] by a one-sided 21-5 score in the semifinal and Clemente Russo [Italy] by a 14-11 score in the finals to win the gold medal. Usyk also competed in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, and defeated Nijati Yushan [China] by a 23-4 score, but was then beaten by Clemente Russo [Italy] by a narrow 7-4 score in the quarterfinal. Russo went on to defeat Deontay Wilder 7-1 before losing to Russia’s Rakhim Chakhkiev by a 4-2 score in the finals.

It’s going to be really tough on Glowacki to win this fight because Usyk has three inches in height and reach over him. Usyk uses his height and reach to his advantages in his fight, and he’s very mobile. He’s not someone that Glowacki is going to be able to count on backing up against the ropes in this fight. Usyk doesn’t do that. He’ll stay on the move, jab and look to load up on his pot shots. Usyk likes to mix up the power on his shots in the same way that IBF/IBO/WBA/WBC middleweight champion Gennady “GGG” Golovkin does. He’ll throw with moderate power for a while, and then he’ll load up with all of his power, and his opponents are frequently not ready for that power when he does unleash it.

Glowacki is going to need a very good chin in this fight if he doesn’t want to get flattened early in this fight because he’s going to be getting hit harder than he ever has before as a pro. Glowacki also can’t afford to give away rounds against Usyk like he did against Cunningham, because he’ll wind up losing a lopsided decision.

Glowacki probably won’t be able to knockdown the southpaw Usyk in this fight because he has a good chin. Glowacki is a southpaw too, and he usually has that as advantage in his fights. It won’t be in this one. If Glowacki is going to win the fight, then he’ll need to win without depending on his fighting stance to do half the job for him.

Prediction: Usyk by 9th round knockout over Glowacki.