Comments Thread For: Second Usyk Loss, Post-Fight Tantrum Prompts Revisionist Joshua History

[P to the J]

boxingscene tradition to have a typo or error in the first sentence

Just to let everyone know the kind of standards they uphold, straight off the bat

[P to the J]

It's just "bad" matchmaking. He could have still been flying high - tricky lefty... It's like Kambosos taking on Haney. He has more chance of winning the lottery than winning that fight. Still Joshua fought very well and should continue is career and just chalk this as another learning experience.

Nah man, we WANT ‘“bad” matchmaking’! “Bad” for the boxer is “brilliant” matchmaking for us.

I want to see how people react to tough situations, and whether they can get out of it, a la Fury with Wallin, albeit, the latter is nothing like Usyk, but you get the point.

This is the whole reason I watch boxing

[hhh1200]

AJ gave the fight away let. Keep that energy at the end of his fights. Fighting for sponsors with a smile on your face is not going to win a fight. Obvious in the HW division he can't benefit from RIGGED cards like Canelo.

[BritJimbo]

By Lyle Fitzsimmons - It'd be hard to find a bigger Anthony Joshua than I was. Though wiping out the worst title claimant of a generation (Charles Martin, blech!) wasn't exactly the most compelling way to win a heavyweight title, I remember sitting in the press room at the MGM Grand Garden Arena that spring night in 2016 thinking, "OK, this guy's going to be a big star."
[Click Here To Read More]

Maybe the one guy AJ cant beat is Usyk...I dont know why people think he should retire. TBH, if he were to beat, say, Wilder, regain a title and make a few defenses, he will have a legit shot at the HOF.

Not to get off topic, but Ray Mancini, Barry McGuigan are in there, so....

But AJ is still pretty fresh, and would have beaten alot of heavyweights this weekend.

There are lots of good fights out there.

Seriously, what about Derek? That would be huge in the UK.

[Liondw]

It's kinda insulting to call Usyk a blown up cruiserweight.

He was the undisputed cruiserweight champion, and now he's the unified heavyweight champion of the world. No small feat. A weight of +-100kg is fine for a heavyweight.

Holyfield was in that weight range or lighter, Wilder was lighter for a while, Marciano was a legend, and Mike Tyson was around that weight.

Too much made of size. You got big guys who were great, like Foreman and Lewis, and then a giant who wasn't a great boxer, like Primo Carnera.

[MONGOOSE66]

Heavyweight is the only division with large weight discrepancies. Being big matters 95% of the time when true skill and power is concerned. Evander Holyfield, Roy Jones jr, Chris Byrd and even a fat James Toney EXPLOITED big men. Usyk is a OLD formula that this younger generation has never seen.
I GARANTEE you that the belts won’t stay long in a small heavyweights hands.
Its just that way.
Congradulations to Usyk. He’s one hell of a fighter.

[Ropeydope]

For anyone that can’t be arsed to read this, Fitzsimmons thinks AJ went all wrong after Ruiz, and he should have beat Usyk because he’s bigger.


Ofc, if Lyle Fitzsimmons knew anything about boxing, he would know:

(1) that AJ’s problems were and have been stylistic in nature, with the Wlad KD prompting McCracken to try to “fix” his flaws, and led to tactical uncertainty that was apparent as soon as the Takam fight

(2) that Usyk is actually a real technician, and should never have been the underdog, even for the first fight

(3) just pounding people with your size doesn’t work in boxing, especially when up against a real technician


Christ on a bike, the man’s getting paid to be a boxing journalist! NSB posters say this same **** for free!

Thank you! What a garbage article. He lost me at “I had AJ for the first fight and stuck with him for the second.” Why not just write, “I don’t know **** about boxing.”
In both fights AJ’s size was his biggest disadvantage. Those muscles aren’t going to help you in a 12 round fight, unless you’re fighting another muscle bound behemoth as would often be the case, where they both tire in the later rounds. Usyk’s ability to go up a gear while AJ downshifted was the biggest difference in the second fight.

[Rapscallion]

Lyle, you go from one extreme to another concerning AJ. From stardom to being unworthy of fighting Tyson Fury all because Joshua disappointed you against an extremely talented Oleksandr Usyk. Do you really think AJ unworthy of a fight against Fury, or are you worried that AJ just might beat your new Golden Boy, Tyson Fury, if they ever do fight? Let them fight; reality over fantasy, Lyle. It's what boxing needs in the 21st century.

[trippleupper]

Thank you everyone for your great comments!

Two follow-up questions:

Anthony Joshua = 6'6" (198 cm), 245 lbs.

1. How big do you think the Lyle Fitzsimmons version of Anthony Joshua was?

2. Do you know of any other, bigger Anthony Joshuas?

[MPA2000]

I'm not a fan of the guy, but some guys are just emotional like that. He got it out of his system and calmed down. It's not like threw chairs and punched walls.

Remember when Daniel Cormier lost the second time to Jon Jones, by TKO that time? He was fit to be tied and ran rampant around cage as well.
People gave him the same about grief, but then they got over it. And now he is a full time commentator for the UFC.