By Jack Tiernan: Manager David Higgins is picking Oleksandr Usyk to defeat Anthony Joshua in their rematch next April.
Higgins had already picked the former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) to defeat Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) in their first fight on September 25th in London.
David felt he was the superior “all-around” fighter, so he wasn’t surprised when the Ukrainian had his hand raised at the end of the contest.
Higgins believes that Joshua, 31, CAN win if he “bullies” Usyk and uses his size on the smaller, weaker man. Usyk is accurate with his powerful shots, and he showed last September that he could hurt Joshua.
That being the case, Joshua will be leaving himself open to getting hurt by Usyk if he tries to bully him around the ring the way he’s capable of doing with his tremendous size advantage.
Joshua shows a lot of courage fighting Usyk again
AJ doesn’t want to walk away from his loss with Usyk, and you can’t blame him. But at the same time, it’s not wise for him to be taking this fight immediately without two or three confidence booster types of matches.
Joshua needs fights against slick boxers like Frank Sanchez and Agit Kabayel to prepare him for Usyk’s smooth fighting style. If Joshua can beat both of those guys, he should proceed with the rematch with Usyk and stage the fight in the UK.
Forget about the extra dough Joshua can get by placing the fight in the Middle East, and instead keep it at home in England so that he can have every advantage in the book to win.
“I thought Usyk would probably win the first fight just because I think he’s a better all-around boxer like an assassin. He did win,” said manager David Higgins to Boxing Social on the first Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk fight last September.
“Then again, Joshua, if he bullies Usyk and uses height, weight, reach, he can knock anyone out,” Higgins continued with his assessment of the Joshua vs. Usyk 2 rematch.
“It would be courageous for Joshua to go back in with Usyk, but he might well do that, and it could go either way. If I had to bet my house, I’d probably go Usyk again,” said Higgins in picking Oleksander to beat Joshua.
If Joshua loses this fight, his promoter Eddie Hearn will be raked over the coals by boxing fans for backing his decision to go through with the rematch.
Ideally, Hearn should be the voice of reason, talking Joshua out of the idea of fighting Usyk in an immediate rematch because this is a move that has been initiated by emotion.
AJ feels humiliated about his loss to Usyk, and he wants to get back at him.
Hearn should be the mature adult in this situation, letting Joshua know that it’s NOT a good idea for him to take this fight because he’s not prepared for it, and the chances are high that the outcome will be the same.
Higgins picks Fury to beat Whyte
It’s too early to know if WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs) will defend against WBC mandatory Dillian ‘The Body Snatcher’ Whyte (28-2, 19 KOs). Still, if the fight happens, Higgins picks the obvious choice of ‘The Gypsy King’ to win.
Assuming Fury doesn’t bail out due to Whyte and his promoters pushing for the WBC allowable 55/45 purse split. It’s going to be difficult for Dillian to deal with the height and reach of Tyson.
Whyte has looked limited in some of his fights in the last three years against Alexander Povetkin, Joseph Parker, and Mariusz Wach. Dillian is like a slightly better version of Dereck Chisora, but without his chin and more reckless.
“It’s an odd fight,” said Higgins on the potential match between WBC heavyweight champion Tyson Fury and mandatory challenger Dillian Whyte.
“You’ve got Tyson’s height and reach. Tyson is #1, so I’d have to put Tyson as the favorite. But again, Dillian is a fighter, and he doesn’t leave anything in the corner.
“He’ll go down trying. If he has a good day and Tyson has a bad day, it could go the other way. If I had to bid, I’d be going with Tyson Fury,” said Higgins.
If you’re Fury, you don’t take this fight right now because he’s coming off a difficult bout against former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder on October 9th, a bout in which he was dropped twice.
There’s a lot of money that Fury would be putting at risk by fighting Whyte, and it’s NOT worth it, particularly if he’s going to be forced to give him a purse split of 55/45. Even a 70/30 split wouldn’t be worth it for Fury to take the fight.
Fury is better off vacating his WBC title and using his lineal and Ring heavyweight titles to defend against another top fighter in the division.
His promoter Bob Arum of Top Rank, mentioned wanting to match him against Andy Ruiz Jr. or Joseph Parker next instead of Whyte if they cannot negotiate a deal with Dillian.
That sounds like a much better idea for Fury than facing Whyte and ending up paying him more than he’s worth.