By Jack Tiernan: Colin Hart believes Anthony Joshua will lose in the same way as in his previous fight when he challenges IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch on August 20th.
Hart feels that Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) is a master craftsman, and the 32-year-old Joshua can’t learn enough in his short period with new trainer Robert Garcia to make a difference in the rematch.
Joshua’s tactics were “deplorable’ in the first fight with Usyk, as Hart points out, and he was never in control of the fight.
Robert wants Joshua to use his size, and power to overwhelm Usyk in the rematch. Hart doesn’t see that as being effective because Usyk can counter anything that Joshua tries.
Usyk is so observant of what’s going on inside the ring, and that he’ll quickly figure out the simplistic game plan that Robert will have for Joshua.
“I can’t see anything other than the same result [as the first fight],” said Colin Hart to iFL TV about the rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk. “I think Usyk has got him exactly where he wants him, and he knows exactly what Joshua has got.”
The sad thing about Joshua likely losing to Usyk again is that boxing fans will never get a chance to see Tyson Fury-Joshua battle. Unless Fury and Joshua still want to fight after AJ loses to Usyk again, the two will never fight.
If Fury fights Usyk, he’ll lose too because he’s become so big & slow, and he’s not going to be able to lean on him the way he did against Dillian Whyte and Deontay Wilder.
“I know Joshua has got a new trainer, but I don’t think in his 30s, he can change his style that much,” said Hart. “It takes time to build a career, and he is what he is and I can’t see him changing.
“His tactics in the first one were deplorable,” Hart said about Joshua. “He tried to outbox that brilliant technician. He’s so much bigger and more powerful than Usyk, he should beat him, but Usyk is a master craftsman.
“Whatever Joshua has got, Usyk can counter and control the fight. I’m surprised because the corner should have told him,” said Hart in reacting to being told that Joshua said that he thought he was winning the first fight against Usyk.
“I was watching it on television, but for me, Usyk was winning very comfortably. I know Joshua said that he didn’t start taking control after round nine.
“I don’t believe that. I think he [Usyk] was in control from the first bell, and the corner should have told him. If they really knew how to read a fight, they should have told him, ‘You got to knock him out to win.’
“He [Joshua] didn’t even try to knock him out. As he said, he thought he was Muhammad Ali in there,” said Hart.
