By Charles Brun: Derek Chisora says Anthony Joshua must target unified heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk’s hips and elbows for him to defeat the undefeated talent in their rematch next month on August 20th in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Derek believes that the way to stop Usyk from moving around the ring is to go after his hips with punches, even though that tactic failed when he fought him, and now he wants Joshua to repeat his mistakes. It sounds like a good plan to get Joshua beat.
Chisora (32-12, 23 KOs) fought Usyk in October 2020, losing a 12-round unanimous decision that was surprisingly scored close by two judges with 115-113 x 2 scores. The fight took place in England, and Chisora had the crowd on his side.
When Chisora was throwing to the body of Usyk, he was repeatedly getting lit up in every round.
In the seventh, Usyk hurt Chisora, catching him with three shots to the head when he was leaning forward trying to throw a body shot. If not for the round ending, Chisora would have been stopped.
It’s fair to say if Joshua follows Chisora’s advice to target Usyk’s hips & elbows, he’ll get knocked out within three or four rounds. Joshua lacks the punch resistance of the journeyman Chisora, and he’ll gas out for sure if he tries to pressure him the way Derek did.
Looking back at the Usyk-Chisora fight from 2020, Chisora attempted to target Usyk’s body, but he was paying the price the big time, getting hit with headshots, two to three at a time.
Chisora repeatedly bent forward to throw to Usyk’s body and exposed his head, allowing Oleksandr to pepper him with combinations. Chisora’s style was ineffective because it allowed Usyk to tee off, landing clean punches repeatedly at a wide-open target.
As far as this writer is concerned, Chisora came close to winning none of the rounds. The fact that two of the judges scored it close at 115-113 is troubling because it was complete schooling by Usyk.
Chisora looked like an old journeyman with his ineffective bob & weave fighting style, causing him to get hit A LOT.
“He [Joshua] has to hit the guy [Usyk] hard,” said Derek Chisora to DAZN on his specific advice for Joshua to defeat Usyk on August 20th.
“He’s always on different angles. AJ has to sort that out to stop moving him,” Chisora continued. “There’s only one way you stop moving a guy like that, and that’s hit him on the elbows, hips, everywhere; his movement will become less.”
It sounds like dumb advice from Chisora, and hopefully, Joshua isn’t foolish enough to follow it because he will get smashed to pieces by Usyk if he tries to follow what he wants him to do.
Chisora was getting peppered by shots the entire fight with Usyk, and the only reason he wasn’t knocked out was his punch resistance. Again, Chisora won zero rounds in that fight as far as Charles Brun is concerned.
