By Charles Brun: Oleksandr Usyk has no concerns about IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua using his enormous size and power to smash him to bits this Saturday night.
Usyk is stepping into the lion’s den to face the 6’6″ Joshua in front of 70,000 fans at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in North London, England.
The bulked-up Usyk (18-0, 13 KOs), who looks like he’s in the neighborhood of 230 lbs, is confident that he’s a way to nullify Joshua’s physical size and power advantage that he has going for him inside the ring.
Oleksandr Usyk gave Wladimir problems
Usyk has already schooled an equally large Joe Joyce years ago and got the better of Wladimir Klitschko in sparring when helping him train for his 2015 fight against Tyson Fury.
Most boxing fans would agree that Wladimir had better technical skills, mobility, jab, and power than Joshua.
If Usyk could nullify Wladimir’s size & power, what are the chances of him doing the same thing to a less skilled, more immense, slower stamina-plagued Joshua?
“He was making it hard for Wladimir. He was like bossing Wladimir,” said Johnny Nelson to Talksport about Usyk giving Klitschko fits during a brief sparring session with the 6’6″ former IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion.
“Get him out. Get somebody else in,” Nelson said.
Many fans make the mistake of assuming that size is all that matters in boxing, and they don’t realize that a lot more goes into it than that. You can have a bigger fighter than another, but their size doesn’t help them if they’re going up against a much better-skilled guy.
Joshua is light years behind Usyk in technical ability, and his cardio is nowhere near as good as the Ukrainian fighter. Usyk is the equivalent of a Vasily Lomachenko for the heavyweight division, and he doesn’t need the rock-crushing power, or the Primo Carnera size of Joshua win on Saturday.
“We’ll probably find out in the first round which will prevail: power or skill,” said Usyk to Sky Sports. “No, it doesn’t annoy me [questions about size], absolutely not,” said Usyk.
Usyk is saying that fans will find out that he’s going to win the fight on Saturday because he will get the better of Joshua in the first round.
Unless Joshua goes all out for the knockout in round one, Usyk will frustrate him, dominate the opening round, and show who’s the boss inside the ring.
🦈🧦 @usykaa #JoshuaUsyk pic.twitter.com/qa5dgSq61M
— Matchroom Boxing (@MatchroomBoxing) September 21, 2021
A strong opening round could set the tone for the fight and lead to a dominant victory for Usyk. That’s why Joshua needs to go berserk in the first round and start where he finished off in his last fight against Kubrat Pulev.
If Joshua wants to win, he’s got to show no sense of caution in the first round and jump on Usyk the way he did the 40-year-old Pulev in the ninth round last December.
“As I said, there’s a lot people don’t know, see or understand,” said Usyk. “The fact that people don’t understand me, well, please forgive me.
“I will try to be clearer, so you understand me.”
“I’m not trying to prove anything to anyone,” said Usyk. “As for the fact that I went 12 rounds with Derek (Chisora), a lot of people think Derek is some pushover; he’s a monster who always puts in 100 percent.”
Chisora had success against Usyk because he went after him from the opening bell, trying to take his head off with every punch he threw. Chisora didn’t show Usyk any respect, and that made the fight more challenging for the Ukrainian.