Topic: [ BOXING POLL ADDED ] The Rematch - JOSHUA vs USYK II (updated thread) - page 16. (Read 3469 times)

I think you can not really compare the fights and also the rematches of Joshua vs Ruiz and now Usyk. Back then it was a huge surprise that ruiz managed to win against Joshua and even managed to knock him down 3 times. Then in the second fight Joshua dominated Ruiz and won his title back in a relatively convincing way. If you look at Joshuas fight vs Usyk then the experts and also the fans were by far not so convinced that Joshua was the big favorite again here. This was mainly because Joshua lost his nimbus of being undefeated against Ruiz and of course also because Usyk is a much better boxer in comparison to Ruiz.
So i don't see Joshua as the big favorite against Usyk in their rematch.

Okay, now I understand you  I hope that the managers of Joshua and Usyk are less informed, otherwise we risk seeing two sumo wrestlers in the upcoming duel 


I think one reason is enough - Joshua does not have an iron chin (and some in the world of boxing even call his chin crystal). It's heavyweight box - you just miss one hit and you're out of the game, so rush is a double-edged move, although of course, with Joshua's physical superiority in mind, it makes sense. By the way, this move is also dangerous because if in the first rounds you did not achieve a quick result, then you find yourself in a worse position, since you spent more energy and further prospects look doubtful. It's kind of all-in.

No, because he tried to fight a close combat with pure in-boxer/in-fighter breed while he has the advantage of reach/height and speed.

It's not that AJ is slower than Usyk, it's just he cannot fight a southpaw boxer the same way as he fights an orthodox boxer. The tempo, the feel, the angle, everything is so messed up. He cannot get used to fighting a southpaw boxer in just a few months, so better gamble would be going for in-fight against Usyk.

It was a deeply calculated idea from a former "boxing manager" player who wasted countless hours playing, lol.

Again, this is the view of ordinary boxing fan, "the speed," as if AJ was slower. No matter how much weight AJ loses in these few months, his punch won't land if he cannot deal with southpaw style. Why not just rush in-fight with his bigger and more powerful build?

Joshua has been known for come back after a devastating defeat and that makes this JOSHUA vs USYK II exciting as when he fought against Ruiz for the second time. Their strategy works to beat Ruiz and if they can execute the same working strategy then he can easily regain back and might have the chance to fight Fury in his next match.

Let's just say that's game 1, we still have game 2 and if AJ would do the same on what he did to Ruiz in a rematch, then most likely he would be able to redeem himself. AJ would try to win this as this rematch is his ticket to a big fight against Fury and both fighters really have the charisma to attract a huge number of fans.

In boxing, you cannot beat what you cannot hit that's what happens to Joshua he has power he always has but unfortunately, he can not hit the target because Usyk is good at bobbing and weaving and good in counter punching he has to cut weight but be dominant just like he did to Ruiz, even Ruiz was surprised that he did not impose himself on Usyk.

  Your sentence sounds like "hey buddy, just mimic the Carlsen/Ronaldo strategy and be a great chess/soccer player." At such a high level, where every nuance matters, this is simply unrealistic. Joshua has a different physical condition than Fury and he cannot transform into him.  Even in the first match, against the background of Usik, he looked like a very slow boxer, what will happen if he gains extra weight? I think that on the contrary, he should lose weight a little and focus on increasing speed - perhaps this will allow him to realize his advantage in strength. Otherwise, Usyk again simply outboxes him in smart boxing.

Extra weight was the reason AJ was slow against Andy Ruiz and lost via TKO. Heavy, powerful but slow AJ will be the easiest target for Usyks punches. During the fight AJ did not make series of punches often. Being heavy will make him throw 1-2 combinations maximum, because series will make his stamina go down quickly. We all know that Usyk likes to throw a lot of punches. Where one make 2-4 punches, Usyk throw 10 minimum. In their first fight Usyk connected almost 20% more punches. Heavy and slow AJ will be a perfect target.

If AJ gains weight for power, the fight will end with UD but with even more points advantage by Usyk. Maybe doing opposite will be the key. Maybe loosing weight and have it identical to Usyk will do the trick. Speed vs Speed.

Yep, Joshua can still win the fight because of his height/reach and longer experience in the heavyweight class. Usyk is a solid technical boxer with southpaw advantage since a southpaw boxer faces more orthodox boxers in his career. We can see how AJ looked confused in their first match. However, if AJ can mimic Fury's strategy, he can win it. He just need to put a lot of weight, and power. Don't go technical against Usyk, but go head on full YOLO. He is bigger than Usyk who was a cruiserweight boxer.

Many experts also thought Joshua has no chance against Ruiz in their second chance but Joshua manage to turn things around, Joshua is dedicated to going back to the gym and see what went wrong and he wants the Fury match to happen, if Joshua turns things around against Ruiz he can do it again against Usyk, he's been in this situation before, he is good in making a comeback, let's see if he can do it again.

That's not a close fight, i agree. It was a masterful performnce and complete domination by Usyk and IMO there would be not much difference on the outcome of the second fight. Unlike in the fight against Ruiz where we can say that it was just a lucky punch that turned the fight around in favor of Ruiz. Joshua's confidence will not be here and this time he will be the one that needs a lucky punch to knock Usyk out.

Maybe he wanted to move a lot and that's what he did during the second fight with Ruiz. And he won boxing around but there were moments in the fight wherein Ruiz will hit him and you can see that Joshua is still afraid of that one punch that will KO him.

In the Usyk fight though, it was a disaster for him, the plan didn't work or maybe he has a hard time with fighters who has great technical and boxing skills.

Yes, it's was not even close in the first fight. You can see the effect on Joshua's face that he took a beating.

It will be interesting to find out where the rematch will take place also. First fight was on AJ homeland, next one should be in Ukraine. That would be fair. Is there a stadium in Ukraine to fit a lot of spectators and to broadcast a performance of such level? Are the chances that this annoying covid will interfere again?


I would not call this fight close. Or judges were blind, because they gave 117–112, 116–112, 115–113 points. 5-6 points difference is a huge advantage of one boxer.

Hope that in the rematch we will see completely different AJ. Because "This game plan is not box and move, this plan is to go in and hurt Usyk" for a rematch does not look that AJ is going to be different, as everyone talk like that.

I wonder how this is possible. I watched the fight, read several text broadcasts, and everywhere commentators were confident in Usyk's victory, even from the behavior of Joshua's home arena, it was clear how the spectators present at the fight evaluate the result of the fight. Maybe it seemed so because of the un-updated page? Otherwise it was easy money.

He can beat him. I thought the first fight was closer than most people are making out. Even the bookies still had AJ the favourite after the fight whilst they were waiting for the judges score cards to come in, at least on the bookies I use. AJ is going to have to have a different game plan though. He's going to have to try go for a KO otherwise the same thing will probably happen and he'll get outboxed. AJ has all the stats on his side and is much bigger and in better athletic shape so he needs to use that to his advantage. Maybe he should take Fury up on his offer to train him for free. The rematch clause has been activated now so hopefully they can get the fight organised ASAP so we can see one of them fight Fury. Neither should trouble him too much I don't think.

It depends on what sort of weight it is as well. Fat isn't going to do anything other than weigh you down and make you sluggish. Might give a little extra protection against some body shots at best but Ruiz was out of shape for that rematch and it was definitely mostly fat. The only way extra weight would be an advantage for AJ is if it was muscle, but even still and as I've said before too much muscle isn't always a good idea and that's why bodybuilders usually don't make good fighters. It's best just to fight at closest to the weight your comfortable walking around at.

Anthony Joshua opts for rematch against Oleksandr Usyk: When will fight take place?
Anthony Joshua will have his shot at redemption against Oleksandr Uysk.

ESPN's Mike Coppinger reported Saturday that Joshua exercised his contractual right to a rematch with Usyk, setting up an opportunity to reclaim the unified heavyweight championship.
Coppinger reported that Eddie Hearn, Joshua's promoter, is hopeful the fight will be in early spring 2022.

Good news, except for the realization that the fight will take place in about half a year and if everything goes according to plan and there are no force majeure circumstances.
Of course, it's a shame that organizing fights takes so long. Specifically now, this is important because if you take into account this fight, then Fury's fight with the winner of this pair, then at least a year will pass. Given the fact that Wilder is no longer young, it is possible that he simply will not have time to get back into business and fight with any of this trio.

You are right, it was not possible to vote in the new poll. It was my error, I forgot to unlock the poll 

Try now...

It is just me or it is not possible to vote on the new poll? I am sure I voted on the previous one so I do not know if that is what it is making me unable to vote on the new one, but anyway +1 to Usyk, I will admit that I thought Joshua would win the first fight but I thought he would do so with difficulties, but Usyk proved me wrong and he was able to beat Joshua with authority and I believe this will happen again as Usyk beat Joshua through his superior boxing skills and I doubt Joshua can improve fast enough to match Usyk on that front.

A new poll has been added, below are the numbers for the first fight but I have reset it now:




This thread deserves more than the 39 votes cast in the first poll first time around so keep voting. Let us see if the balance of votes shifts towards Usyk to win the rematch or will it stay in favour of Joshua regaining his titles 

It wouldn't be possible to accurately calculate whether x amount of weight makes a difference, because it would completely depend on the circumstances, and the fighter themselves. Some people will perform better without additional weight, and others will prefer to be carrying a bit of timber. Joshua, it probably suits to be somewhat heavy, because he's a big puncher, and not particularly that great at the technical sides of boxing, which usually require a little more finesse.

However, if you want to compare weights just look at Usyk coming into the fight with Joshua, we was 15-20 pounds lighter than Joshua if my memory serves me correctly. I know there definitely was a big difference, since it was a major talking point before the fight, that Usyk would struggle with the power of Joshua because he's used to fighting at a lighter weight, and is significantly lighter than Joshua. Obviously, we know that if it did make a difference, it didn't change the outcome for Usyk. Maybe, if Usyk weighed more he would have got the knockout, but in the grand scheme of things it likely wouldn't have made that much of a difference in this fight, unless he would have struggled with the additional weight, and then Joshua could have performed better because of the reduced speed.

It's all speculative though, which is somewhat pointless.