By Tim Royner: Anthony Joshua has finally revealed which mandatory challenger he wants to face next by stating that he wants Oleksandr Usyk for his April bout. Usyk (17-0, 13 KOs) is Joshua’s WBO mandatory challenger, whereas Kubrat Pulev is his IBF mandatory.
The two sanctioning bodies haven’t yet decided which mandatory will go first. There’s a possibility that AJ may need to vacate one of his belts if the IBF and WBO can’t decide. If that’s the case, then Joshua will likely keep his WBO belt, and take on Usyk in April.
Joshua says he feels that 2012 Olympic gold medalist and former unified cruiserweight champion Usyk is the more accomplished fighter than Pulev. That goes without saying though, as the 38-year-old Pulev’s claim to fame is challenging former heavyweight champion Wladimir Klitschko in 2o14. Pulev lost that fight by a 5th round knockout, and he was never competitive.
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn has concerns about the potential difficulties he would have in negotiating with Pulev’s promoters at Top Rank to make a fight between them. So if Joshua vacates his IBF belt, then Pulev would face Adam Kownacki for the vacant title. That would be a toss up fight.
Usyk is Joshua’s preferred next opponent in 2020
“I do have a preference, but I don’t actually want to disrespect the other,” said Joshua when asked if he has a preference for which mandatory challenger he defends against first in 2020. “The preference I have is the better fighter on paper. Both are solid fighters, but one of them I have a preference. The reason I don’t want to say is because of the mistakes I made last year, it’s easy to overlook people.
“I put them both in my mind as killers. I’ll go with the tougher one of the two,” said Joshua in talking about mandatory challengers Usyk and Pulev. “They’re both solid fighters. Actually, Oleksandr Usyk has achieved more. He’s a gold medalist, and cruiserweight undisputed champion. He’s come up to heavyweight. He has a good solid record, so I’ll go with Usyk because of how good he is,” said Joshua in revealing WHO he wants to fight next.
In terms of money and fan interest, Joshua vs. Pulev is the bigger fight than Joshua-Pulev. It’s unlikely that Joshua cares too much about the extra money he can make in choosing Usyk. He just wants to take on the opposition that will give him the bigger test, and Usyk is clearly the guy. If this were 10 years ago, Pulev might be the pick for Joshua if he were around then. Pulev was an excellent heavyweight in his prime, but he’s old now at 38, and he’s lost a lot from his game.
Oleksandr Usyk captured gold medal in 2012 Olympics
Usyk captured a gold medal in the 2012 London Olympics, which is where Joshua won his gold medal. Like Joshua, Usyk had a couple of controversial victories in the 2012 Olympics in beating Clemente Russo and Artur Beterbiev. A lot of boxing fans believe that Beterbiev was the clear winner in his fight with Usyk. Beterbiev landed the cleaner, harder shots throughout the contest.
The Olympic judges preferred Usyk’s fencing-like fighting style, and his jabs over the jarring power shots that Beterbiev was hitting him. If this were a fight that took place in the professional ranks, Ruiz likely would have won by a lopsided decision over Usyk. He landed the far better shots in that fight.
Joshua on Ruiz’s excuses: “It’s better to take it like a man”
“Everyone is going to look for their reasons and excuses, and I had my reasons,” said Joshua to IFL TV in commenting on Ruiz’s excuse about partying too much before rematch. “There’s always a reason. We call them excuses. He wants to validate why he lost to himself, #1, and to the world. In boxing, you have to face the world [after you lose], and when you’re searching for answers, they can come with anything.
“Sometimes it’s best to just take it like a man. I fought through my losses. Sometimes you just take it on the chin, and keep moving, but he [Ruiz] did it a different way. I think people will make up their mind in the space of a year, which is true with what they feel is best for a fighter to do when they take a loss,” said Joshua.
What did Joshua want Andy Ruiz Jr. to say? Ruiz admitted that he partied, lived up, and didn’t take his training seriously for the rematch. His trainer and his father both agreed with that. Ruiz came into the fight at a 283 lbs, and that was a clear indication that he didn’t train hard enough. But if Joshua wanted Ruiz just to admit that he was beaten by the better man, then it must have been disappointing for AJ to hear the excuses from him.
Joshua wanted Ruiz to give him more credit
The reality is though, even if Ruiz did tell the boxing world what Joshua WANTED him to tell them, the fans would still see it as a case of Andy not training hard enough. Ruiz’s physical shape told the entire story, and it wouldn’t have mattered if he told the fans that he’d lost to the better man. The truth is, we don’t know if Joshua could beat an in shape Ruiz, because he didn’t face him this time. We do know that Joshua lost to Ruiz when he was in good shape last June.
Ruiz would be lying to the boxing world if he told them that he had given it his best in training camp, and that he was 100% prepared for the fight. The California native is a straight shooter, and he’s not someone that is going to bend the truth in order to help the ego of his opponent Joshua.