By Scott Gilfoid: 6’9” Kazakhstan heavyweight and two-time Olympic bronze medalist Ivan Dychko has turned pro, and signed with MJA Entertainment, a promotional company out of Australia. Still only 26, Dychko wants to avenge his HIGHLY questionable decision loss to Anthony Joshua from the 2012 Olympics.
The Olympics that year took place in London, England, and Joshua had the crowd fully behind him in each of his four fights in that Olympics. Dychko appeared to beat Joshua, but found himself on the losing end of a 13-11 decision.
I saw the fight and felt that Dychko clearly won based on his many shots to the head of the shorter 6’6” Joshua. Dychko landed many punches that weren’t scored by the judges working the fight. Dychko wasn’t given credit for punches that were landing to the head of Joshua. These were head-snapping shots that Dychko was landing in the fight. Out of all the guys Joshua fought in the 2012 Olympics, I thought Dychko did the best against him. Dychko used his size well to get the better of Joshua.
Dychko probably should have ended his amateur boxing career after the 2012 Olympics and turned pro at that time, but he chose to stay in the amateur ranks for another four years. He finished his amateur career with a record of 181-18. Out of all the fights I’ve seen of Dychko, I’ve never seen him lose. He lost some fights, but I thought he should have been given victories. Amateur boxing is difficult sport to understand because you don’t always get the better fighter getting the victories. It might be better to have the fans scoring the fights, because they seem to have a pretty good idea who the better fighter is.
“Anthony Joshua motivates me, especially the thought of a rematch someday.” Dychko said to Fightnews.com. “I believe I beat him in London, and if he defeats Klitschko and keeps gathering the heavyweight titles, it would be the ultimate fight in (the) future.”
I totally agree with you, Mr. Dychko. You definitely beat Joshua in the 2012 London Olympics. I believe you’re going to have a fine pro career.
It’s good that Dychko has turned pro at this point, because he can now start moving quickly towards fighting the best in the heavyweight division. With Dychko’s extensive amateur career, he doesn’t need to be brought along slowly like some fighters do that didn’t fight in the Olympics twice. Dychko and be moved quickly.
With Dychko’s huge 6’9” size and reach, he’s going to be a real problem for any fighter in the heavyweight division. Dychko kind of reminds me Vitali Klitschko. He has that same fighting style, and he kind of looks like him when he’s inside the ring. He’s a very good heavyweight with tons of potential.