BOXING: Former heavy weight champion Nigerian born British boxer, Anthony Joshua has again suffered embarrassing defeat in the hands of Aleksander Usyk who outperformed Joshua in their heavyweight title re-match to keep his belts away from his opponent.
What We Know
Ukrainian boxer Aleksander Usyk on Sunday defeated British-Nigerian boxer, Anthony Joshua, by a split decision to win the heavyweight title rematch and retain his belts, which he took from Anthony in 2021.
The rematch saw Usyk landing more solid jabs on Joshua in the final round while Anthony Joshua tried to counter with punches of his own.
The Ukranian retained the IBF, IBO, WBA and WBO titles on a split decision of the judges.
The first judge ruled 115-113 in favour of Joshua while the second 115-113 to Usyk and the third 116-112 in favour of Usyk.
Clariform recalls that 35 year old Usyk had last year defeated the defending champion in London, Anthony Joshua, whose performance in the first match with Usyk was far worse than the second.
Aleksander Usyk` victory second victory over Joshua has cemented his victory over the later and has also confirmed his status as a heavyweight boxing player. The latest victory may set his up for a potential bout with Tyson Fury.
While addressing the crowd after the defeat, Joshua said he had an elite prospect from youth.
Notable Quote:
Speaking after his loss to Aleksander Usyk, Joshua said: “If you knew my story you would understand the passion. I ain’t no amateur boxer from five years old that was an elite prospect from youth.
I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my arse off, I wanted to be able to fight.”
“I’m stealing this Usyk I’m sorry, but it’s because of the passion we put into this. This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.”
Speaking further, he added: “I’m not a 12-round fighter, look at me, I’m a new breed of heavyweights, Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, ‘you don’t throw combinations like Rocky Marciano’, I’m 18 stone, I’m heavy, it’s hard work. This guy here is a phenomenal talent, we’re going to cheer for him three times.”
