Topic: [ BOXING POLL ADDED ] The Rematch - JOSHUA vs USYK II (updated thread) - page 7. (Read 3510 times)

Does Joshua even have the discipline to implement the changes to his style that might increase his speed while depriving Usyk of his? He is 33 years old, he came to the boxing world too late at the age of 15 and that is part of his problem. Joshua is not a natural fighter, he can defeat the likes of Whyte and Parker based on his size and power but is he really technically better that Whyte? Yes probably. Even though he defeated Parker on a points decision is he really technically better than Parker today? Probably not.

Does Joshua really have a ruthless streak in him to win if he gets in to the ring with a fully fit and focused Ruiz, Wilder, Usyk or Fury? I think it is clear he does not.

Yes, now before the rematch, all odds are in favor of Usyk and if he manages to maintain speed in the upcoming fight, he will most likely be able to retain the title, but Joshua's team is probably preparing for a fight in order to deprive Usyk of his main advantage - speed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHeTxTB4fBc&t=480s

The poll is much closer than I would have imagined. Right now 66.7% are going for a Usyk win whereas 33.3% are going for a Joshua win and that confuses me because there seems to a belief that Joshua just might be able to overcome Usyk.

I see Joshua having zero chance against Usyk but the poll shows 20 votes in favour of Usyk and 10 votes for Joshua. I hope there more participants in the vote in the coming days.

Usyk looks like a man on a mission with the support of the world behind him:

^^ And if I'm not mistaken, it was him or his previous trainer who admitted that they are using this strategy in their fight against Usyk. But it back fired on them big time as how the hell he can outbox a technical fighter? And then Joshua commenting that no one in his corner is telling him what's going on, whether he is winning or losing the fight. And that's why he didn't pressed on the championship rounds as he thinks he is ahead on the judges scorecard, which is very wrong. Garcia though is known to give a lot of feedbacks after every round, he can hear him cursing to motivated his fighters on what to do. I expect something like this in the Usyk fight, more blatant language to fire up Joshua.

Ruiz definitely has lightening fast hands and that caused Joshua problems when he was knocked out by Ruiz. In the rematch, Ruiz was not in his best shape because of the partying and late nights, he stated later his weight was not ideal and he was training half-heartedly. In all honesty, how many of us can say a fully fit and focused Ruiz would have lost to a fully fit and focused Joshua in the rematch?

Have to agree, Usyk is on a completely different level that is why Joshua is not being given much hope of winning.

I commented the same. Ever since Ruiz knocked him out, Joshua seems to be making a different fight where he avoids going for the knockout punches. He avoids brawls instead trying to keep some distance - that is strange to see. If Joshua does come out swinging trying to disrupt Usyk then yes definitely it will make it an interesting fight otherwise Usyk will dominate the fight and Usyk will retain the belts he won in the first fight.

I mentioned before, I think Usyk will win by knockout within 4-5 rounds. Usyk looks in absolutely stunning shape when he was filmed practising in the ring with his trainer. He is completely focused on the fight showing nothing at all in fear and has a complete desire to win. I feel sorry for Joshua because Usyk looks far more dangerous than he did when they met last year.

I mean, Joshua isn't the usual boxer. He isn't going to outbox Usyk. However, he can definitely knock his head off. I've said it before, but Joshua since that first Ruiz fight isn't the same boxer. Joshua used to be quite scary in those brawls, and the last time he looked like that was when he got caught by Ruiz, and ultimately finished.

He avoids those sort of gun fights now, and looks to keep the distance, and use his reach advantage, but that doesn't work when your opponent knows how to get in on the inside. Ruiz the second time didn't, probably because it looked like he lost all motivation after achieving something he probably thought was out of reach. He was noticeably larger, and didn't have that same determination to close the gap.

Usyk will, and did last time. The thing is he's also quite a light heavy weight, and can pop in, sting you, and then get back out again. Joshua hasn't got the distance management or the skill set to stop that from happening, at least if we are to judge it based on the times he has tried to box rather than knock out his opponent.

I'm hoping Joshua goes back to his roots, and looks to take his head off, as that'll make a interesting fight. Otherwise, we're just going to see more of the same as the last fight.

And that is the main problem for Joshua, on the lighter divisions great technical fighters are relatively common, but on the heavyweight division this is not common and when they appear they dominate the division, Ruiz is not even that technical but he has fast hands and gave a lot of trouble to Joshua during the first fight, Usyk is in a whole other level, which explains why Joshua during the first fight found no answers at all to deal with him and why we doubt he will during the second fight against Usyk.

Most definitely. If Joshua actually uses the tools at his disposal to the best of his advantage then the odds against him winning would increase. As you mentioned, his left jab which he used effectively to disrupt Ruiz in their rematch was almost non-existent when he lost to Usyk.

Fury used his body weight to push and lean on Wilder when he defeated him, he used his jab with devastating effect too. If Joshua could do that then the rematch against Usyk will be more competitive. I remember when Usyk defeated Joshua that he did not allow Joshua to use his size advantage to bully him in the ring and that was because technically he was far too superior too for Joshua therefore we are back to the only possible way Joshua can win and that is by knockout and only IF he managed to catch Usyk with an unexpected massive punch.

Robert Garcia is now his new coach, it was confirmed already and he has been mentioned in the discussion. He failed to used his advantage in the first fight because he was just there thinking of scoring a knock out. And when it didn't present itself, then no plan B and Usyk is just hitting him and uses his technical skills to avoid Joshua's power punches. So Garcia says that he will uses Joshua's reach and height advantage in rematch and thinks it will be enough for him to win the fight.

I don't know exactly why he's struggling to use his own advantage when he has the reach and height advantage compared to Usyk and he's much more experienced and a good KO ratio but it's still not enough to defeat Usyk. It was reported that he's changed his coach and I didn't catch-up anymore who's the real one because when I search him up, there's so many names that are surfacing.

And it is why people have so little faith in Joshua pulling the win against Usyk, if Joshua could use the tools he has at his disposal like his size advantage he could have a chance as he could keep Usyk at a comfortable distance if he could use his jab effectively and then counterpunch Usyk when he tried to get the fight into a closer range, but Joshua cannot do this so it is clear the only viable strategy is to go for an early KO, and even that strategy as you say is almost impossible to use against Usyk as well.

From sheer determination alone it seems clear Usyk will go out from the first bell to win by knockout. He believes he can do it and he believes Ukraine and supporters of Ukraine are behind him. For Joshua it will be a fight, an opportunity to simply try to regain the belts and then go for a unification fight or another big pay day as a champion but for Usyk he feels he can further put Ukraine and the Ukrainian cause on the map.

I see absolutely zero chance for Joshua to win the rematch except by virtue of a well connected lucky punch that might catch Usyk off-guard. Other than that Usyk will win by dominating the fight from beginning to end.

Garcia said that they should be ready on anything that Usyk will bring in this fight:


But then share some insight on what they are going to do:


https://www.boxingscene.com/robert-garcia-joshua-smart-against-usyk-t-go-there-thinking-ko--167221

And this is what Garcia has been preaching, he said he wants AJ to take his physical advantage like height and reach which he didn't do in the first fight. AJ just go and look for the knock out which didn't happen because Usyk is every elusive.

Yes, that maybe their first strategy, try to get a quick KO and see if Usyk is focus on this fight and not on the background (war).

But if their strategy didn't work, that will really be difficult as Usyk is a boxer and more technical. While it seems that AJ strength is try to go head first and go bully his opponent. But if that will not work then what plan B did Robert Garcia had in this fight?

I understand where these odds come from, as I saw Usyk declassify Joshua in the first fight. But in my opinion, regarding the first fight, the situation has not changed much - Usyk, to put it mildly, is still "not the heaviest" heavyweight and it is probably too optimistic to assume that he will win by knockout. I would say that Usyk has a 60% chance of winning by knockout and Joshua has 40%, if you take points (pure boxing) then Usyk has 95% and Joshua has 5% to win.

It will be extremely hard to KO Usyk, if not even impossible. I cant even remember a fight when Usyk was knocked down or dazed, or even had real troubles.

Several years ago Usyk faced Murat Gasiev in world series of boxing finals. Gasies, heavy handed knockout artist wasnt able to do anything against Usyk. Turtle defense and on each Gasiev punch Usyk threw 6-8 his own. Gasiev tried to do a quick KO, but failed. Joshua if heavier and slower. I would say quick KO tactics wont help.

This is going to be difficult because it is likely Usyk is aware of what happened between Ruiz and Joshua and he is not going to make the same mistake that cost Ruiz such a clear defeat against Joshua, If Joshua wants to win he will need to go for a quick KO because he simply does not have the technique of Usyk and he will lose if the fight gets to the judges, however this will require being very aggressive from the beginning of the fight and Joshua has never distinguished himself as someone with a lot of stamina, so this is a strategy that he will not be able to employ for long.

It's reversed now because we have seen how Usyk destroyed and played with Joshua in their first fight. He makes Joshua look amateur and so in the rematch Usyk is very much the favorite.

But we don't know, one goes for Joshua though is that he was able to avenge his defeat to Andy Ruiz. So maybe in this fight, who knows, technically it could be pay back time for him or Usyk taking 2-0.

Yep, so I really don't know if Anatoly Lomachenko but perhaps let's assume that he will not be in the corner of Usyk in this fight and he will be with someone else he trust or Anatoly trust to carry the trainer in preparation of this fight.

And yes, he seems to be prepared, and I would say more muscle and becoming a true heavyweight now. And just by looking at the odds, Usyk a good favorite to beat Joshua again.

I see that in the return fight everyone is waiting for Usyk to win by knockout and the odds for the fight from the bookmakers almost completely repeat the odds for the first fight only reversed. Maybe we should expect that the result will be the same reversed relative to expectations?  I'm rooting for Usyk and waiting for his victory, but now I'm starting to worry.