By Charles Brun: Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22 KOs) will be defending his WBO heavyweight strap against mandatory Oleksandr Usyk back at home in September at the 62,000 seat Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London on Sky Box Office.
Is this venue too big for Joshua-Usyk?
Let Charles Brun say it right now; this is a big stadium for such a low-level fight like this one between the gargantuan 6’6″ Joshua and the light-hitting former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs).
Usyk can’t punch at the heavyweight level, and he’s going to be in for a world of hurt against Joshua in this contest. Unless Joshua gasses out and keels over from exhaustion, this bout won’t last long. Usyk looked so horrendously bad against Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora.
There are no words to describe how awful Usyk looked in both fights, particularly the Chisora match. As old and past it as the 37-year-old Chisora is, he came close to beating Usyk last October at the Wembley Arena, losing a narrow 12 round split decision.
Hopefully, Eddie Hearn hasn’t picked a venue too large for the actual fight. Usyk doesn’t have much of a following, and virtually no one will be giving him a chance of winning this fight.
Joshua chooses not to extend his contract with Sky Sports after this fight. He would be going out with less than a bang.
The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was the original location for Joshua’s last title defense against IBF mandatory Kubrat Pulev last December. Unfortunately, the COVID 19 pandemic got in the way of those plans, forcing the Joshua-Pulev clash to be moved to the smaller Wembley Arena in London last December.
Subsequently, Joshua had little problems knocking out the weathered-faced 40-year-old Pulev by an easy ninth-round knockout in a horribly one-sided fight from start to finish.
AJ had been scheduled to fight Tyson Fury in what would have been the final fight of his current contract with Sky Sports on August 14th, but the match fell apart due to the Gypsy King’s blunder in choosing to make the deal while his arbitration with Deontay Wilder was still pending.
As boxing fans already know, Fury lost the arbitration case and is now fighting the highly lethal Deontay on July 24th. With the Fury fight now sent into oblivion,
Joshua is stuck having to take on the crafty southpaw Usyk, a modern-day Chris Byrd type of heavyweight with no power but great ring IQ, mobility, and stamina. Usyk is the wrong guy for Joshua to be fighting if his conditioning isn’t up to par.
With Joshua’s stamina problems, there is some risk of losing to Usyk if he gets tired. Usyk is going to push a pace that is going to give Joshua problems if his cardio is lacking in that fight.
Also, Usyk is excellent at moving around the ring, using angles to nail his opponents when they’re out of position.