Boxing
Usyk targets Fury after beating Joshua on split decision
Oleksandr Usyk turned his sights on rival heavyweight world champion Tyson Fury on Sunday after beating Britain’s Anthony Joshua on a split points decision to retain his WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO belts in Jeddah.
The “Rage on the Red Sea” in Saudi Arabia was a rematch of a fight in London in September, which the Ukrainian won on a unanimous decision to take Joshua’s belts, but with more intensity and emotion.
The pressure was on both former Olympic champions, with Usyk this time representing a country fighting for its existence after a Russian invasion while Joshua was battling for his boxing future.
Usyk appeared comfortably ahead as the final bell rang at the King Abdullah Sports City Arena but the American judge surprisingly awarded the fight 115-113 to Joshua.
The British and Ukrainian judgesdecided 115-113 and 116-112 to Usyk.
The victory took the 35-year-old’s professional record to 20 fights undefeated while Joshua, 32, suffered a third defeat in what could prove a watershed in his career.
Joshua, who had held aloft the Ukrainian flag with Usyk as they waited for the decision in what seemed an acceptance of defeat, then had an uncharacteristic meltdown.
He took two of the belts, dropping them as he left the ring and headed for the dressing room before turning around and stepping back between the ropes to take the microphone and address the crowd.
“Usyk is one hell of a fighter. That’s just emotion,” declared the Briton.
“For this guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better but it shows the levels of hard work he must have put in, so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.
“I was studying Ukraine and all the champions from your amazing country. I’ve never been there. What’s happening there, I don’t know but it’s not nice … under those circumstances he’s managed to become champion.”
SWEAT-SOAKED CANVAS
The opening round was tentative, with Joshua’s corner calling for him to adjust his rhythm, and the bout continued with Usyk using his jab and body shots to good effect.
Round eight was briefly halted for towels to mop the slippery, sweat-soaked canvas but round nine raised the heat again, with Joshua enjoying his best before Usyk came back hard in the 10th.
Needing a knockout and running out of time, the taller and heavier Joshua was unable to land the telling blows against an agile and elusive opponent who hit back hard.
“In the ninth round I thought we had him,” said Joshua’s promoter Eddie Hearn. “The 10th round was one of the best rounds I’ve seen.
“What Usyk did in the 10th, the 11th and the 12th was incredible and that was the difference tonight because AJ didn’t start fast enough but he fought a much better fight.
“He hurt Usyk badly in the ninth and I felt like he was going to come on strong. But Usyk came out like a train.”
At the final bell the two embraced and the Ukrainian, who had entered the ring in a yellow and blue “Colors of Freedom” top while Joshua was dressed all in black, dropped to his knees.
Usyk’s thoughts then turned to the next chapter and another Briton to beat, although WBC champion Fury has declared himself retired.
“I am convinced he wants to fight me. I want to fight him. And if I’m not fighting Tyson Fury, I’m not fighting at all,” Usyk told the crowd through a ringside interpreter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed a “difficult but important and necessary victory.”
“Defending a world championship title is a symbol that whoever is from the Cossack tradition will not give up what is his, will fight for it and will win without any doubt,” he wrote on Facebook.
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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