USYK REMAINS UNIFIED CHAMP, CALLS OUT TYSON FURY!
Yesterday afternoon (American Time), Unified Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk remained undefeated after putting on a masterclass performance against Anthony Joshua. Despite losing, AJ did look very much improved. Robert Garcia did a good job. For all the improvements Joshua made, Usyk made some of his own as well. Both men had better performances than the first fight. Joshua's movement was better. He bent his knees and didn't "stand tall" all fight (he bent his knees and moved his body up/down and side to side with feints). At the end of the day, Usyk just has the better skill set. His boxing IQ is off the charts. He showed that he is tougher than anyone thought, taking some of AJ's best punches, showing no fear and kept coming forward. In round 9, it looked as though AJ would finish Usyk, after landing a crushing right hand, to which Usyk tied up Joshua and survived to the bell. To everyone's amazement, Usyk came back in round 10 stronger and faster. It's amazing how fast he was able to recover between rounds. Usyk took it to AJ in the championship rounds and closed strong... sweeping him on my scorecard rounds 10-12. This brings me to my only beef I had at the end of the fight. The scorecards. In no world was this close to a split decision. Even the UK broadcasters for DAZN were saying AJ needed a KO in as early as round 10-11. (when I stream I prefer the brits on dazn to the Americans because the Americans, for whatever reason, are absolute shit).
When the scorecards came out and I realized it wasn't going to be a Unanimous decision, I was SHOCKED... and thought a robbery was coming in as a Joshua win or a draw. The scorecards were as follows, and I'll include judge's names, because one guy needs to be banned from boxing:
115-113 (Steve Gray)
113-115 (Glenn Feldman) - scored it for Joshua, needs to be forced to retire or outright banned. Clear corruption.
116-112 (Viktor Fesecheko) - the only scorecard that was acceptable in my opinion. This fight was competitive but not close at all.
My scorecard (using the fight score app): I had it 117-111, and you could only make an argument for round 6 for AJ, it was a swing round tho. where Usyk out landed AJ 13-8. He also controlled most of the round.
After the fight was over, Anthony Joshua threw a bizarre tantrum, in where he was yelling random shit, and threw the titles out of the ring. Big credit to Usyk for keeping his composure during the disrespectful moment. AJ composed himself, with the help of Derek Chisora and ended up showing Usyk the respect he deserved. AJ, was clearly crushed by the loss, knowing he brought his absolute best performance and it was still not good enough. That's a tough pill for anyone to swallow. Yes, you read the correctly. Chisora was actually trying to get the situation under control - that says it all.
On the other side of the post fight interviews, Usyk called out Tyson Fury. He stated that he would fight Tyson Fury for all the belts or not fight at all. Tyson Fury responded with "Get out your checkbook". Boxing promoter Bob Arum believes the fight is easy enough to make. You never know with Tyson Fury. You don't know if he's serious, or if he's playing an angle, a game - with the boxing world.
It was a very interesting night. As a boxing fan, I want to see Fury vs Usyk to put that debate to bed. So many think Usyk can overcome the size and skill of Fury, and so many feel like Fury will show that size does really matter. Usually in boxing, the good big man beats the good small man. Tyson Fury is much bigger and much more skilled than Anthony Joshua. People need to realize that. I give Usyk all the credit in the world... he is world class and has punched his ticket to the hall of fame... but this is one of the biggest fights in boxing and it's one of the easier fights to make. No reason it shouldn't happen. Have it in Saudi Arabia (where they don't seem to mind all the bs politics surrounding certain boxers) - which is good news for Tyson Fury, who can't come to the USA and can only fight in the UK on a foreigners' license (which I don't fully understand).
