Boxing
How Anthony Joshua was battered, out-boxed and outfoxed
In the final seconds of the fight that had humbled him, Anthony Joshua’s giant frame sagged against the ropes in front of the ringside rows of celebrities who had come to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to acclaim him.
He had no answer to Oleksandr Usyk any more and he knew it. He stood there, offering nothing in return, as his opponent’s blows rained down on him.
Usyk knew it was nearly over, too. The Ukrainian had heard the tapping that signals there are only 10 seconds of the round remaining.
And so in the end, he stopped throwing punches and stood there, stock-still, in front of the man he had beaten, not willing and not needing to impose any more punishment upon him. And then the bell sounded.
Joshua smiled weakly and waved his gloved hand in the air in a gesture of triumph. By then, his right eye was badly swollen so that he could barely see out of it.
It had been like that for several rounds. Usyk, a former cruiserweight champion who had only fought twice at heavyweight before Saturday night, might not have had the power to knock him out but he had hurt him badly. He had punished him relentlessly.
Joshua knew he had been beaten, too, by then but he had salvaged something. In front of 67,000 people, he had lost but he had not yielded.
It felt like the scene in Raging Bull when Jake La Motta, played by Robert de Niro, wraps his hands around the ropes as he stands with his back to them so that he will not fall under the barrage of punches from Sugar Ray Robinson.
In the end, La Motta is spared from the onslaught by the referee and as Robinson walks away, La Motta stares after him through unseeing eyes. ‘You never put me down, Ray,’ he shouts out. ‘You never put me down.’ It was not much of a consolation but it was something. And that was how it was on Saturday night. It was just about the only thing Joshua had left.
Because he has lost a lot. He has lost the three versions of the world heavyweight title that he held and he has probably lost the prospect of ever fighting Tyson Fury in the showdown that the sporting world has wanted to see for the last three years and which would have brought the two combatants an estimated £200m. All that has gone.
And there is more. Joshua has lost his reputation. Not his courage or his bravery because that was more evident than it ever has been on Saturday night as he fought on against an opponent whose superior skills he had no answer to.
He fought on even when he knew it was hopeless and that he had been outclassed.
But he has lost his reputation in so far that Usyk looked in a different league to him. Usyk made him look ordinary. He made him look limited. He made him look like the fighter his detractors have always claimed that he is: a big puncher but not a natural talent like Usyk or Fury.
A fighter who has been manufactured and finds it hard to adapt and innovate. Joshua is only 31 and he is supposed to have a rematch clause but would he really want to fight Usyk again after this? It is hard to imagine so.
In that way, Saturday night’s defeat hurts him more than the defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden in New York hurt him two years ago.
It was written off as a fluke and an aberration and Joshua avenged it in the rematch in Saudi Arabia soon afterwards. It was something that could be forgotten about. But nobody will forget this or the manner of this.
That is another reason why the fight with Fury may never happen. If Joshua can be so badly outclassed by a clever fighter like Usyk, then the odds are he will be outclassed by a clever fighter like Fury, too.
The manner of his demolition on Saturday night has taken away much of the mystery of Joshua-Fury. This was like watching the end of a film before watching the start. We know what would happen now.
How strange it seems now that Joshua was the picture of calm as he walked to the ring, sparring playfully with a security guard, high-fiving fans, shadow boxing as fireworks exploded and dancing to his entrance music before he climbed through the ropes to where Usyk was waiting.
The champion towered above the challenger, a reminder he had the advantage in power and reach as well as height.
When the contest started, Joshua’s nonchalance disappeared. He gave Usyk all the respect he deserved in the first round and the two men barely laid a glove on each other.
In the second, Joshua did catch his opponent with a left hook to the side of the face but Usyk rode it easily. The challenger looked lithe and comfortable, his footwork keeping him out of Joshua’s range.
The fight exploded into life in the third round when Usyk caught Joshua flush on the jaw with a slamming left hook that shook the champion.
In the fourth, Usyk rocked Joshua’s head back again with a stiff right jab. Usyk’s movement was more dynamic and Joshua’s own jab lacked conviction. Time and again in the fifth round, Joshua threw and missed.
There were traces in Joshua’s countenance of the bewildered look he wore during his defeat to Ruiz in New York but he did rock Usyk back on his heels with a solid straight right in the sixth round that snapped the challenger’s head back.
But by the seventh, Joshua was starting to look one-paced and predictable and he stumbled backwards when Usyk caught him flush with a darting left hook.
By the end of the eighth, it was obvious Joshua was being outclassed. He still carried the threat of his devastating right hand but Usyk was outboxing him.
That feeling continued through the ninth round and in the tenth Joshua was cut under his right eye and swelling starting to obscure his vision. Usyk sensed his chance but Joshua dug in courageously and took the fight back to Usyk.
Joshua desperately tried to unload his right hand but in the eleventh, it was Usyk who caught him again and again with the left.
The final round was the same. And so Joshua stood there and took everything that Usyk threw at him and he refused to buckle. He never put him down and in the midst of his humbling, it is hard to begrudge him that.
-Daily Mail
Briton Tyson Fury said he will throw caution to the wind when he faces heavyweight champion Oleksandr Usyk and aim for a knockout victory in their rematch.
In their first bout in May, Fury hit his stride in the fourth round and engaged in some showmanship as he caught Usyk with vicious body shots, but the Ukrainian battled back and turned the tide in the eighth round.
Usyk’s powerful punches to the head left Fury reeling and the previously undefeated boxer struggled through the final rounds of the fight before losing by split decision and relinquishing his WBC heavyweight championship.
The rematch will take place on Dec. 21 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with the WBC, WBO and WBA titles on the line.
“I’m going to go in there with destroy mode. Last time I went to box him, I was being cautious. I boxed the head right off him,” Fury told TNT Sports on Saturday.
“Let’s talk facts. Anyone can get caught, as we’ve seen in a lot of these heavyweight fights, but this time I’m not going for a points decision.”
Fury added that he is still keen on facing fellow Briton Anthony Joshua, despite the former champion’s knockout defeat at the hands of Daniel Dubois in an IBF title fight last month.
Joshua and Fury had been set to face off in a proposed ‘Battle of Britain’ bout in 2022, but the fight fell through.
“At the end of the day, it would be a travesty if we didn’t fight,” Fury said.
“No matter if he loses 20 more fights. If he doesn’t win another fight and has 10 years away from the game, it doesn’t matter, we have to fight.”
-Reuters
After Saturday’s night defeat to Daniel Dubois, Anthony Joshua’s boxing career looked heading to an end as the former two-time world champion was knocked out in the fifth round of their heavyweight bout at Wembley Stadium.
But a determined Joshua has said that he would not quit easily. He has played down any talk of retirement following his defeat.
His defeat ended any immediate hope of becoming a three-time world champion. A British-record crowd of over 96,000 people saw Dubois retain his IBF World Heavyweight title with a victory that shocked the boxing world
The 27-year-old put in a dominant performance, flooring Anthony Joshua in the first round with a strong overhand right that he never truly recovered from.
Despite coming forward in the fifth round with a big straight right-hand, Dubois countered with devastating knockout blow.
“Always walk with your head high, we rolled the dice, for the third time, 13 world title fights, not every one has been successful, but they’ve all been fun and entertaining,” Joshua was quoted by Independent as saying.
He was talking about his future. “You’re probably asking if I still want to consider fighting? Of course I want to continue fighting.
“We took a shot at success and we came up short. What does that mean now? That we’re going to run away? We’re going to live to fight another day. And that’s what I am – I’m a warrior.
“There were a few mistakes in there but that’s the name of the game. Fine margins will cost you at the top level.
“Also before I finish, we have to give credit our opponent Daniel. When I sign up to fight opponents, I don’t really like them in my head any more. But now that it’s done, I take my hat off to him and say well done.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn, according to Manchester Evening News, admitted this was the first time he’d seen the former two-time world champion hurt during their 11-years working together.
“It’s probably the only time in his whole career I’ve seen him really hurt, it’s not bad, having won two world championships and 13 world title fights, to the point he couldn’t get up,” Hearn added.
“It’s the first time in his career that he’s been properly hurt, you never want to carry on too long, but AJ doesn’t have many miles on the clock. When Ben comes to me and says, ‘he doesn’t look the same fighter any more’, and AJ will make that decision.
“We’ve seen the best AJ over the last year, it’s difficult to say that’s it. These are the closing chapters of his career. We have another fight with RS, Dubois is part of that plan. So too is Tyson Fury or another heavyweight. 2025 is going to be an interesting year for Joshua, against whoever, you’ll be entertained.
“Our interests are that he leaves this sport with legacy, money and his health in tact, knocked out like that you have to look at that. That was just a shot, trading with a huge right hand, it doesn’t matter who you are, you’re getting knocked out.”
Britain’s Daniel Dubois destroyed Anthony Joshua’s dream of becoming a three times heavyweight world champion with a fifth-round knockout to retain his IBF belt at a packed Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
Dubois dropped his compatriot to the canvas in the opening round with a stinging right, the referee delivering a standing eight count, and the 27-year-old proceeded to tear up the pre-fight predictions as swiftly as he ripped into his opponent.
Joshua, 34, took another hammering in round two but managed to ride out the storm before round three came crashing down around him again.
With Dubois landing more fizzing right-handers, Joshua was literally on the ropes before being saved by the bell.
He could barely stand at the end of the fourth, after going down again with two minutes remaining, and then it was all over in the fifth with the painstaking rebuilding of his career suddenly in ruins.
After landing a few promising blows, any signs of a fightback faded with a right to the chin that sent Joshua down, the former IBF, WBA and IBO champion this time unable to get back on his feet.
“I’ve only got a few words to say: Are you not entertained?,” declared Dubois after the biggest win, and first at Wembley, of a 24-fight career with two defeats.
“I’m a gladiator, I’m a warrior to the bitter end. I want to get to the top level of this game and reach my full potential.
“I’ve been on a rollercoaster ride. This is my time, this is my redemption story, and I’m not going to stop until I reach my full potential.”
RECORD CROWD
Organisers said a British post-World War Two record of 96,000 spectators attended the Saudi-funded fight at London’s Wembley Stadium.
Among them were Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher, singing three songs on his 52nd birthday ahead of a reunion next year, and Ukraine’s WBC, WBA and WBO champion Oleksandr Usyk.
Usyk has beaten both Joshua and Dubois already and will fight Britain’s Tyson Fury, also present, in a rematch in Saudi Arabia in December.
Joshua might have hoped to have a crack at the winner of that fight but instead faces an uncertain future with Dubois sending a seismic ripple through the familiar heavyweight landscape.
Dubois said he hoped for another shot at Usyk, who beat him in nine rounds in Wroclaw, Poland, last year.
Usyk previously held the IBF belt but vacated it for the Fury rematch, with Dubois the interim holder and upgraded to world champion in June.
“Credit to him and his team. We rolled the dice of success, but we came up short,” said Joshua after his 13th world heavyweight title fight left him with a record of four defeats from 32 bouts.
He had first won the IBF belt in 2016 from Charles Martin at London’s O2 Arena. Joshua then lost it to Andy Ruiz in 2019 but won it back later that year. Usyk then took it from him in 2021.
“We keep rolling the dice. I had a sharp opponent, a fast opponent and a lot of mistakes from my end, but that’s the game.”
Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn said he expected to exercise a rematch clause.
“It’s a dangerous fight because he’s growing in confidence all the time but he’ll believe he can beat him,” he said.
-Reuters
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