By Charles Brun: Promoter Bob Arum wants Anthony Joshua to step aside so that WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury can face IBF/WBA/WBO champ Oleksandr Usyk next for the undisputed championship.
Fury (30-0-1, 21 KOs) will still need to defeat Deontay Wilder in his fight on October 9th for that idea to work. If Wilder beats Fury, Arum’s idea will go down the drain.
As long as Joshua’s big ego doesn’t get in the way, he’ll agree to Arum’s idea to step aside. Business-wise, it’s a brilliant idea that Arum has of having Joshua step aside so that Fury can face Usyk.
Fury would in effect be taking care of Joshua’s problem for him by taking out Usyk. Then Fury and Joshua can meet for a massive money fight in the UK in 2022.
Let’s face it, Joshua will likely lose to Usyk if they go ahead with their idea of a rematch in early 2022. But Joshua and Matchroom Boxing can avoid that problem by letting Fury face Usyk and removing him from the equation.
Arum says it’s not a good idea for the recently dethroned IBF/WBA/WBO champion Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) to face Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) in an immediate rematch, as he’s planning on doing because he doesn’t believe he can beat the talented Ukrainian.
Instead, Arum has proposed that Joshua take a tune-up fight while Fury tackles Usyk for the undisputed championship. Joshua would then fight the winner, who Arum believes will be Fury. Joshua would get a guaranteed shot at the winner of the Fury vs. Usyk fight, according to Arum.
Arum says Joshua shouldn’t fight Usyk next
“No, I don’t and I think Joshua would be well off if somehow he were able to take a couple of other fights before the rematch with Usyk,” said Arum to iFL TV when asked if Joshua can beat Usyk in the rematch.
“If people are sensible, Joshua can work out an agreement if Tyson Fury is successful to allow Usyk to fight Tyson Fury. Have each fighter contractually agree in their next fight, whether it’s Usyk or Tyson Fury.
“Again, should Tyson Fury beat Wilder to fight the winner. That’s sensible. But again, this is boxing and promoters with egos and fighters not making the correct decision and really making fights based on emotion,” said Arum.
The idea that Arum has makes a lot of sense because the 6’9″ Fury matches up better with Usyk than Joshua does just based on size. Usyk is obviously a better-skilled fighter than Fury, but he would have trouble dealing with his length as well as his 270+ lb bulk.
Fury would likely grab Usyk frequently, lean all his weight on him and club him with rabbit punches as he did against Wilder in their rematch last year.
Each time Usyk gets close to Fury, he’ll get grabbed by him in a clinch and then leaned on. That was Fury’s game plan against Wilder.
Fury was like a grizzly bear, grabbing Wilder each time he was in reach and then putting all his 273-lb weight on the Bronze Bomber’s pencil-thin legs, forcing him to support his bulk.
The rabbit punches were the coup de grace for Fury, and Wilder never stood a chance fighting a guy using those tactics.
Usyk too talented for Joshua
“I always felt that Usyk was the superior boxer [than Joshua], and I felt his training was enhanced by instructions he received from Vasily Lomachenko’s father [Anatoliy], who is one of the best tacticians in the sport of boxing,” said Arum.
“If you look at his body of work as a cruiserweight, I’m not surprised by his defeat of Anthony Joshua,” said Arum about Oleksandr Usyk. “Because of the size differential between Joshua and Usyk, which wasn’t that great, not many people gave Usyk a chance to win. I wasn’t surprised by the results.
“I don’t know what Joshua could have done to beat Usyk. Joshua is not that good of a tactician. Usyk was in a class above him,” said Arum.
