By Charles Brun: Carl Froch believes Oleksandr Usyk tricked Anthony Joshua into fighting him in 2021 by going easy on British journeyman Derek Chisora in their fight the previous year in 2020.
Froch notes that he was at ringside that night, and he saw that the former undisputed cruiserweight champion Usyk (20-0, 13 KOs) never got out of 3rd gear against Chisora and turned it on & off when he wanted.
Carl says Usyk “knew” Joshua was watching that night, so he purposely went easy on the then 37-year-old Chisora rather than destroying him and scaring AJ away for good.
Usyk knew that if he wiped out a mediocre ham & egger domestic-level fighter like Chisora, Joshua would NEVER fight him in a million years because he wouldn’t want to taste defeat.
Sure enough, the plan worked, as Usyk seemed to coast against Chisora, fighting in a way he’d never shown during his amateur or pro years, by posting up against the ropes like a journeyman, shelling up and letting Derek swing away with his looping shots.
“That night against Chisora, he just took his time. He was playing mind games,” said Carl on Froch on Fighting, talking about Oleksandr Usyk taking it easy on the hopelessly outclassed British journeyman Derek Chisora.
“He knew Anthony Joshua was watching that, and he was thinking to himself, ‘if I show all my toolbox in this first heavyweight fight, I’m going to scare him off.’ So he [Usyk] never got out of second gear with Chisora,” said Froch.
Charles Brun remembers watching the fight, noticing how obvious it was that Usyk was taking it easy on Chisora. Usyk gave Joshua and, obviously, Tyson Fury hopes that they could beat him.
Fury seems to have come to his senses and now shows that he wants no part of the Usyk fight with his ham-handed approach to negotiating with him.
Joshua found out the hard way that he was no match for Usyk, losing twice in a row, and now Fury is sabotaging the negotiations with the talented IBF, WBA & WBO heavyweight champion, showing that he wants no part of getting similar treatment.
Fury is making good money fighting lesser fighters like Chisora & Dillian Whyte, and he doesn’t want to get sent into retirement or have the gravy train of green cut off at the spigot.
“Usyk didn’t get past third gear and got the comfortable win on points. I think AJ would’ve looked at that and thought, ‘I can beat this guy; he’s struggling up at heavyweight,'” said Froch.
