Oleksandr Usyk looking forward to fighting Tyson Fury after beating Anthony Joshua again

By Boxing News - 11/02/2021 - Comments

By Scott Gilfoid: Oleksandr Usyk is already looking ahead of his next fight against Anthony Joshua towards the bigger prize against WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

IBF/WBA/WBO champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) wants to add Fury’s WBC title to his collection of belts to become the undisputed champion, which would be the second division that he’ll have accomplished that fete.

Many boxing fans and trainers believe the 6’9″ Fury will be too big for Usyk to beat him, but he sees a big lug that he can wear down.

‘The Gypsy King’ Fury looked like he aged seven years in the last year and a half. What in the heck did Fury do to get so old in such a short period?

Fury looked terrible in his last fight against Deontay Wilder on October 9th, and he would have lost if the ‘Bronze Bomber’ wasn’t in such poor shape from putting on all that useless muscle to bulk up to 238.

Usyk wants Fury’s scalp

“I have now faced many great British opponents. To be honest, they were all amazing in their own way, but I felt as though Joshua was the most interesting, especially as there were three championship belts to gain,” said Oleksandr Usyk to DAZN.

Image: Oleksandr Usyk looking forward to fighting Tyson Fury after beating Anthony Joshua again

“My performance that night was perhaps my very best, and if I can beat him a second time, I would look forward to maybe facing one more great British boxer, and that is, of course, Tyson Fury.”

The truth is, Fury looked to be about 60% of what he was in his second fight with Wilder in 2020, and it’s painfully apparent that he’s getting old.

I mean, chronologically, Fury is 33, but in reality, he looks closer to 43. He’s got the wrinkled skin, flab around the midsection that will never go away, and slowed hand speed. Usyk will be too much for this old version of Fury.

It’s understandable why Usyk is overlooking Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) because he’s pretty much a mental basketcase after the way he dominated him last September.

If Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn knew what was good for him, he’d refuse to let AJ fight Usyk a second time. Joshua needs to be saved from himself because he’s on a journey to nowhere.

The guy is too stubborn. It’s safe to say that Joshua’s career will be on skidrow next March after Usyk beats him for a second time, but what can you do?

AJ must throw caution to the wind

“The only way to win is to do what Deontay Wilder did by going out and throwing caution to the wind,” said promoter Frank Warren to Secondsout on what Anthony Joshua must do to defeat Usyk in the rematch.

“He’s got to go out and use all his physical attributes in this case. He’s the bigger man [than Usyk]. Wilder was the much smaller man [against Tyson Fury]. He’s a much bigger man than Usyk.

“He’s got to impose himself, and get behind his jab and throw nice long right hands. What surprised me was how he [Joshua] was getting out-jabbed by Usyk from the outside. Usyk would get out and get underneath him and work to the body.

“He [Joshua] was struggling with him, and in the last round, if there have been another ten seconds, he would have been stopped. They were about to throw the towel in.

“The only way to beat him is to go out and actually impose himself,” said Warren about Joshua. “The bottom line is can he do that?” said Warren.

AJ  might as well go all out against Usyk for as long as his limited stamina can allow him because if he fights the way he did last time, he’ll get the same results.

Let’s face it, Joshua is too robotic, stiff, and fragile for him to perform at a high level consistently.

Yeah, you’ll get two or three good performances from Joshua, but then he’ll turn around and fall flat like we saw last time against Usyk. Can Joshua win the rematch with Usyk?

Maybe but the chances are high that Joshua will then get beaten by Tyson Fury next time out because he’s totally unreliable.

Joshua must FIGHT Usyk next time

The interesting scenario for me is that after the fight, Usyk said through his interpreter that he was under instructions not to knock him out.

“Just to box him. He wobbled him early on in the fight, and in the last round, he was all over the place. So maybe this time, he might fancy that he can go put it on him,” said Warren about Usyk possibly going for the knockout in the rematch and see what happens.

“Joshua has got to go out and have a fight. He can’t be worried about being clipped. Some people say he looks a little bit gunshy at the moment.

“Well, he can’t afford to do that against this guy [Usyk]. He’s got to jump on him if he wants to win his title [back].

“In his last few fights, he’s not been the fighter that he was,” Warren said of Joshua. “He’s not got very good defense.

“He’s got to do something because the formula isn’t working. It didn’t work for him against [Andy] Ruiz in the first fight, and thankfully for him in the second fight, Ruiz was a pudding.

“He couldn’t move. He’s got fast hands, but he couldn’t move. He still clipped him in the fourth or fifth round, but then he backed off him, and he fought on the back foot, and he done everything he had to do, but he was fighting a guy [Ruiz] that was pretty much immobile with the weight he was carrying.

“He [Joshua] needs to change. Can he change? What is he, 32 years of age? Can he change his style? Will he be able to do that? It’ll be interesting to see,” said Warren.

AJ lacks the gas tank to fight hard

Joshua has the ability to brawl with Usyk or any heavyweight in the division for a short period, but then he gasses out quickly.

Joshua’s biggest problem is his limited gas tank, which prevents him from exerting himself the way he needs to beat fighters like Usyk.

What further compounds the problem for Joshua is his weak chin, which limits the kind of punishment that he can take.

The combination of a limited gas tank and a fragile chin is a double whammy for Joshua, making him vulnerable against even smaller heavyweights like Usyk and fat ones like Andy Ruiz Jr.

If Joshua loses to Usyk a second time, it could be career over for him. Obviously, Joshua will exhaust every effort to save his career at that point by either dumping trainer Rob McCracken or adding another coach. Still, it’s not going to improve his weak chin or his poor stamina.

Those things will be with Joshua until the bitter end of his career, and there’s nothing he can do about it.

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