By Jake Tiernan: Anthony Joshua is surprised that IBF, WBA, & WBO heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk still hasn’t fought since the two of them battled last August in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
In Joshua’s mind, Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) should have fought twice by this point, as it’s been almost eight months since they squared off. What Joshua isn’t saying it Usyk got caught in a tar pit trying to negotiate with Tyson Fury and wound up with nothing to show for months of dealing with the stubborn one-belt champion.
Like Joshua, the unsuspecting Usyk entered the tar pit, trying to set up a fight with Fury, and quickly found himself stuck in the oily mess, unable to extricate himself to move away towards attainable fights.
Fighters like Usyk and Joshua view Fury as an excellent money fight and attract attention from fans. Unfortunately, it’s not worth the trouble to put a contest together with Fury now.
“It’s tough, man. I’m telling you, being a champion, it ain’t easy at all. As I said, look at Usyk. He ain’t even got a fight date. He’s a champion of the world. I was the last guy he fought, and I’m fighting on Saturday,” said Anthony Joshua to Boxing Social about Oleksandr Usyk, still inactive since their last fight in August.
“He’s a champion. He should’ve been out twice by now,” Joshua continued about Usyk. “Being a champion should mean that you’re busy, you’re out, you’re active, you’re fighting. But it’s a f***ing headache.”
Fury seems different since Wilder trilogy
Something seems to have changed with Fury since his second fight with Deontay Wilder. Since that fight, Fury has been difficult. Fury took a lot of punishment from the hard-hitting Wilder (43-2-1, 42 KOs), getting dropped hard in the fourth round and barely beating what some boxing fans felt was a slow count from the referee.
The jolly Fury that we saw before the trilogy with Wilder seems to have disappeared, and he now seems irritable, non-smiling, and failing to negotiate fights fans want to see against Joshua and Usyk.
What happened to Fury? Did the right hand bombs that Wilder tagged him with in their third fight change his personality? It’s hard to know what happened to him because he seems to have changed since that fight.
Fury didn’t want to take the third fight with Wilder despite the rematch clause, and his two contests since then have been against British domestic-level fighters Dillian Whyte & Derek Chisora.
Trying to deal with Fury at this career stage is like moving through a minefield without a mine detector. It takes forever, and in the case of Usyk & Joshua, they couldn’t make it to the other side to get into the fight.
As a result, Usyk wasted valuable time, and he’s finally seen the light and wisely backed out of the Fury mess and will be looking to face his WBA mandatory challenger Daniel Dubois next, which hopefully won’t be a difficult fight to put together. Dubois has the same promoter as Fury, so you never know.
