One step away from the knockout: how Usyk defeated Joshua and won four world boxing titles

Initially, Alexander Usyk was considered an obvious underdog in a duel with Anthony Joshua, and several factors spoke against him at once. The Ukrainian had no experience of fighting top heavyweight fighters. He fought on foreign territory, which was guaranteed to give an advantage to his opponent. He was significantly inferior in anthropometry, and also never approached a battle with a weight of more than 100 kilograms. On the one hand, the difference between the last fights turned out to be small - less than two kilograms, but for the ex-champion in the first heavy division this could be of great importance. Still, one of his trump cards is precisely footwork and the ability to constantly maneuver and select the right angles for attack. And the increase in body weight could negatively affect both his ability to move quickly and endurance.

Looking ahead - all these circumstances did not interfere with the applicant at all. Usyk did not notice the difference of 1.9 kilograms and did not hesitate in front of more than 60 thousand British boxing fans who filled the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, but entered the ring with maximum concentration. And this despite the rather original presentation before the start of the fight. The Ukrainian appeared in the arena wearing a helmet from a spacesuit, which was a rather unexpected event. If everyone has long been accustomed to Joshua's colorful performances, Alexander usually did not please with such delights.

Usyk's plan to fight Joshua turned out to be quite expected.

The difference in height and arm length made him constantly go forward.

But unlike many, he did not go ahead, but actively maneuvered and looked for angles for attack.

However, at first it did not work very well.

Alexander moved a lot, but Anthony could not be taken by surprise.

Although he did not offer counterplay, he defended well, avoiding most of the enemy's blows.

In the first half of the fight, most of the rounds turned out to be approximately equal.

The tendril showed itself more actively - both in terms of movement and throwing blows.

But his shots were hardly accented enough to become a serious problem for Joshua and win the judges in his direction.

In the course of the fight, it became especially clear that both are outstanding representatives of amateur boxing. Throughout most of the rounds, a tactical struggle was waged in the ring, in which the emphasis was not on power, but on accuracy and the number of hits. And this is not surprising, because two Olympic champions of London met. But if Joshua won the belt in the category over 91 kilograms, then Usyk - up to the indicated weight.

For the first time, the Ukrainian showed himself brightly in the third round. If the first two could be given to both him and Joshua, then in this segment Alexander looked stronger. He repeatedly stepped behind Anthony's left leg and caught him off guard with his signature left straight. But the climax was the ending of the three-minute, during which the Briton was seriously shocked. Another left blow hit the champion's jaw and not only swayed him noticeably, but also forced him to retreat back.

This is not to say that Joshua looked absolutely toothless. Sometimes he counterattacked rather dangerously, squeezed and found gaps in the Usyk defense, but mostly he was too passive. Perhaps he was sure that in an equal fight the local judges would still side with him. And this is not surprising. In boxing, many referees are still of the opinion that in order to win the belt, a challenger must significantly surpass the champion. And until a certain moment in this fight, this was not observed.

Not in favor of Alexander was the fact that in the middle of the battle he had a dissection above his right eye. And if this did not prevent him from fighting, then it absolutely certainly had an impact on the judges. Visible damage is often seen as proof of superiority in the ring. True, the Ukrainian soon got revenge. Anthony developed a hematoma in about the same place. And this was already noticeably more dangerous. Gradually, it became more and more difficult for Joshua to see, which allowed Usik to use the left straight line even more often.

The equal fight continued until the end of the ninth round. By this time, on the cards of all three judges, there could well be, if not the same values, then, at most, a slight superiority of one of the rivals. Logically, it should have been Usyk, who continued to work in his usual manner and did not allow Joshua to get close to him. At times Anthony looked completely confused. Suffice it to say that at the end of the battle, he delivered 25 fewer hits to the target (123: 148), while throwing out 112 more (641: 529). As a result, an extremely low percentage of hits (12%), which can be called the merit of the Ukrainian, who perfectly applied slopes with the corps.

Nevertheless, the fate of the fight was decided precisely in the championship rounds, in which Usyk literally swept Joshua out of the ring. And this was especially unexpected. At the end of the ninth, Anthony hit his opponent dangerously several times and had chances to squeeze him, but for some reason he loosened his grip and allowed him to seize the initiative. Alexander took advantage of this and spent the last nine minutes at the highest level.

Usyk suddenly picked up the pace and completely outplayed Joshua. He was elusive, and he himself attacked from a variety of positions and angles, for which the champion was clearly not ready. The most striking was the final 12th round, during which Usyk naturally beat his opponent. In the end, he completely drove him to the ropes and almost knocked him out, but he was stopped by a gong. And it is possible that the organizers helped Anthony to avoid early defeat. During the broadcast, the clock disappeared after just over eight seconds remained until the end of the segment. However, already two days later, the signal sounded about the end of the duel.

At this moment, the main intrigue was how the judges evaluated the actions of the boxers in the first half of the bout.

Most of the rounds turned out to be pretty equal.

And although Usyk scored more hits at his own expense, Joshua threw out more powerful punches.

And this is often a key indicator.

However, this time there was no sensation.

The referees unanimously recognized the victory of the Ukrainian, although they differed in their assessments of a number of rounds - 117: 112, 116: 112, 115: 113.

Thus, Usik won the 19th career victory and won four belts of the world heavyweight champion.

Having danced a hopak with the Ukrainian flag and tried on champion belts, Usyk admitted that he had not shown his maximum and promised to demonstrate an even higher level in the next fight.

And it is possible that in him Joshua will again become his opponent.

At the end of the London show, British promoter Eddie Hearn announced that his client was going to take advantage of the option of an immediate rematch.