Usyk vs. Joshua II - NOT CLOSE!!!!

[P to the J]

When I scored it at home I had usyk win
118-110.

10 rounds to 2 but there were a few rounds that were close.

Correct, could have saved a lot of words that could have been used in future essays, here

[P to the J]

- - U flooding the Pacific Ocean over U boy Usyk winning the most graphically obvious political decision in history...priceless...

Lol. It was intended as a riposte to all those asking why Joshua didn’t rugby tackle him and stab him repeatedly, or whatever

[P to the J]

before the fight, almost all pundits agreed that Joshua's only chance was to go for broke early on. With a slow methodical approach, Joshua had close to zero chance of regaining his belts. If he went berzerk in the early rounds, sure there was a high chance that Joshua's glass chin would get cracked again, but at least he had a better chance of winning. After the Ruiz jr annihilation, Joshua is not willing to exchange, even against a light hitting CW, and go out on his shield. Don't really blame him, his bank account is overflowing, so why risk permanent brain damage?

Nah, these pundits have had their brains fried and offered nothing close to analytical.

He had less of a chance going berserk early, because no-one can sustain that for more than a round at HW, and there’s nowhere near as much guarantee you even hurt your opponent at that stage, let alone Ko them, unless you put those body shots in the bank, first.

Ofc, he might have caught Usyk with a fluke on the temple or chin, but still…

[P to the J]

That was also a really good read. On point with the analysis. I remember saying in round 4 that Usyk has adapted and he’s now making Joshua think how he wants him to think.

Cheers, I appreciate that; probably gonna frame this comment and put it on a wall next to my gf’s law degree

[baroidi]

Nah, these pundits have had their brains fried and offered nothing close to analytical.

He had less of a chance going berserk early, because no-one can sustain that for more than a round at HW, and there’s nowhere near as much guarantee you even hurt your opponent at that stage, let alone Ko them, unless you put those body shots in the bank, first.

Ofc, he might have caught Usyk with a fluke on the temple or chin, but still…

yeah fluke chance was all Joshua had against Usyk, ~0% with a slow methodical approach or maybe a ~2% chance by going all out early in the fight lol

[P to the J]

yeah fluke chance was all Joshua had against Usyk, ~0% with a slow methodical approach or maybe a ~2% chance by going all out early in the fight lol

Maybe this is really it. I mean, there appeared no route to victory pre-fight, anyway

[Nash out]

Having rewatched this one now, I have made a few takeaways, but here’s the TLDR version: Usyk wasn’t in trouble ONCE, but there is also NOTHING AJ could have done to get him into trouble.

I support both conclusions using a summarised recap of the match divided into phases, as follows:


1. Both were predominantly centre of the ring in the first 2 rounds, and Joshua kept a tighter guard, moved his head and feet well and didn’t look completely out of his depth, but Usyk still landed some shots on him with movement predominantly limited to feints and sidesteps within a relatively small area.

The minor problem for Usyk at this stage was that he likes to counterpunch, and AJ was affording few opportunities for this while having his own success counterpunching. Ofc, Usyk has IQ to spare, so this wasn’t an issue for him, as we see next.

2. By round 3, Usyk got AJ to open up more by taking his range of movement wider and further: more lateral movements, but also back steps and enacted within a far larger area of the ring. This begun, or accelerated the process of wearing Joshua out physically and mentally by:

(a) forcing him to chase Usyk outside of the centre of the ring

(b) slightly panicking AJ into firing shots that were bound to miss; even more so has he begun to wear out, leading to point…

(c) Usyk had created more openings for himself to counterpunch, which he did very successfully.



3. As this phase, round 3-8, progressed, Usyk had started to slow down as AJ had some moderate success landing body shots throughout the fight, which, IMO, was the latter’s plan all along in order to initiate a late assault (which I go into at point 4).

The problem is that Usyk’s adjustment had resulted in AJ himself slowing down, and at arguably a greater rate. As a consequence, Usyk still had a relative surplus in stamina, and we see that, contrary to all the advocations that AJ should simply chase and bully him, Usyk took this option well outside of AJ’s range of choices by taking his legs out of the equation, meanwhile, still asking him questions with his movement and feints to make him mentally process at a rate beyond his (and most boxers’) comfort zone.

Both these points are accumulatively proved with AJ’s jab and straight right getting noticeably less potent during rounds 3-8, and Usyk having far more success has a result of Joshua slowly becoming more stationary while Usyk remains elusive, though less so as rounds 3-8 progressed.

Either way, this elusiveness was a factor, along with the others I mentioned, in AJ’s gameplay failing, as we see next point.


4. As a result of Usyk’s round 3 adjustment undermining the AJ plan to bodyshot from a tight guard, and move his head and feet out of the way of counter-assaults, AJ’s round 9 crescendo falls flat on a rewatch.

If anyone looks again, you’ll see that, yes, AJ mixes up his attack well with a variety of body and head shots, he’s cutting the ring off effectively and Usyk is caught off-guard, and off-balance, but Usyk’s legs remain firm throughout. He never betrays signs of neurological damage as evident in involuntary bodily convulsions or any such thing.

Ofc, he’s clearly lost the round, and AJ has banked a vital one by upping the activity level, but that’s all that’s happened. And simply winning the round was never the plan, as proved by Garcia’s stating that you cannot outbox Usyk.

The plan was to take him out late, and as the next phase further reinforces, this assault, an admirable attempt, and possibly a successful one had Usyk not adjusted in round 3, actually backfired on Joshua, with Usyk sensing his opportunity for another adjustment.


5. Basically, at this point, Usyk’s not hurt, I theorise ultimately because of his round 3 adjustment, and he’s not ******, either. He knows that AJ can’t sustain the pace of his round 9 attack; few boxers, and even fewer HWs can. What’s more, Usyk had already been slow burning Joshua’s physical and emotional energy by making him fight his fight in areas he wanted between rounds 3-8, while making AJ open up and miss; itself, very tiring.

Hence, Joshua has little left.
So Usyk’s next adjustment is less complex and will help Usyk on the scorecards against the home fighter: punch him a LOT. Usyk stood in the pocket and unloaded, safe in the knowledge that not a lot was coming back from a worn out AJ at this point. We see Usyk utilising less range here than at any point previous in the fight. Partly because he’s tired himself, but also because he needs the round, just in case.

Throughout the course of round 10, AJ’s only real answer were a couple of solid shots around the middle of the stanza. Not enough, by this point he’s cooked, and those shots were more or less his final successes, and this final phase of the fight arguably serves as riposte to those who said Joshua should have fought as he did in round 9 all fight. Usyk’s too intelligent.




In summary, faced with a smarter and more circumspect Joshua, Usyk opened the fight up in round 3 by getting AJ to chase him with his legs, his hands and his mind.

Fighting like this destabilised the Garcia/ AJ strategy to wear Usyk down for the late finish, simply because (i) Usyk became increasingly difficult to regularly tag cleanly until round 8 and (ii) because AJ’s resources were diminishing at a grander rate; both meaning that AJ’s last flurry, which would have been the perfect ending to a well-thought out plan vs. a lesser boxer, became a desperate, do-or-die attempt against a guy like Usyk that, for the reasons outlined above, failed to greatly affect him.

Equally, however, rounds 10-12 proved why fighting as he did in round 9 from the start would have been foolhardy for AJ in the extreme. Not only is it unsustainable for any HW, Usyk adapts, and quickly. Therefore, I not only argue that Usyk was in full control, I also assert that there was no route to victory for AJ.

The Great Nash had it 118-110 Usyk. Giving Joshua everything possible and all benefit if the doubt in closer rounds, he has a case for at best 116-112. Anyone scoring closer than that needs to stop watching boxing as they did not know what they are looking at. Nash stated before the fight, that Joshua should go balls to the wall from R1, and that would give him 3-4 rounds of energy, starting fresh, to close the show. Of course, after that, he'd be battered for the rest of the fight, if, and the likely if, that failed, but it was his only hope, barring a robbery, which came close to happening.

Nash will say though, assuming Joshua and Usyk both fight for 2-3+ more years, a 3rd fight is not as unlikely as it seems right now. Assuming Fury beats Usyk, Joshua gets a couple of good wins under a new coach, Hearn sells him as Joshua 3.0, the fight will be back on. Especially as they can big it up more as the 2nd fight was a "split decision" It would still sell out a stadium in the UK under those circumstances. Fury vs Joshua is dead, imo. Joshua was a massive domestic rival to Fury, but so was Price, and Fury vs Price would have happened had Price reached world level when Fury did, then their was nothing to gain from Fury fighting Price, and now, with Joshua, there was once a debate who was top dog? Something to prove, that's gone. That only remains with the Usyk doubt, who Fury must fight at the very least before retiring.

Fury beats Usyk, I think he can walk away without people calling for him that he has to fight somebody else, as there is always somebody else. He would have came, conquered, and left, should he walk away after that. Not fighting Usyk would leave a permanent doubt on his career. Nash out.

[SplitSecond]

The Great Nash had it 118-110 Usyk. Giving Joshua everything possible and all benefit if the doubt in closer rounds, he has a case for at best 116-112. Anyone scoring closer than that needs to stop watching boxing as they did not know what they are looking at. Nash stated before the fight, that Joshua should go balls to the wall from R1, and that would give him 3-4 rounds of energy, starting fresh, to close the show. Of course, after that, he'd be battered for the rest of the fight, if, and the likely if, that failed, but it was his only hope, barring a robbery, which came close to happening.

Nash will say though, assuming Joshua and Usyk both fight for 2-3+ more years, a 3rd fight is not as unlikely as it seems right now. Assuming Fury beats Usyk, Joshua gets a couple of good wins under a new coach, Hearn sells him as Joshua 3.0, the fight will be back on. Especially as they can big it up more as the 2nd fight was a "split decision" It would still sell out a stadium in the UK under those circumstances. Fury vs Joshua is dead, imo. Joshua was a massive domestic rival to Fury, but so was Price, and Fury vs Price would have happened had Price reached world level when Fury did, then their was nothing to gain from Fury fighting Price, and now, with Joshua, there was once a debate who was top dog? Something to prove, that's gone. That only remains with the Usyk doubt, who Fury must fight at the very least before retiring.

Fury beats Usyk, I think he can walk away without people calling for him that he has to fight somebody else, as there is always somebody else. He would have came, conquered, and left, should he walk away after that. Not fighting Usyk would leave a permanent doubt on his career. Nash out.

Joshua need only destroy Otto Wallin. And people will remember styles make fights and Fury-Josh is salivating again. But he needs to walk through him. He should use his frustration like Lomachenko did vs Nakatani.

[P to the J]

The Great Nash had it 118-110 Usyk. Giving Joshua everything possible and all benefit if the doubt in closer rounds, he has a case for at best 116-112. Anyone scoring closer than that needs to stop watching boxing as they did not know what they are looking at. Nash stated before the fight, that Joshua should go balls to the wall from R1, and that would give him 3-4 rounds of energy, starting fresh, to close the show. Of course, after that, he'd be battered for the rest of the fight, if, and the likely if, that failed, but it was his only hope, barring a robbery, which came close to happening.

Nash will say though, assuming Joshua and Usyk both fight for 2-3+ more years, a 3rd fight is not as unlikely as it seems right now. Assuming Fury beats Usyk, Joshua gets a couple of good wins under a new coach, Hearn sells him as Joshua 3.0, the fight will be back on. Especially as they can big it up more as the 2nd fight was a "split decision" It would still sell out a stadium in the UK under those circumstances. Fury vs Joshua is dead, imo. Joshua was a massive domestic rival to Fury, but so was Price, and Fury vs Price would have happened had Price reached world level when Fury did, then their was nothing to gain from Fury fighting Price, and now, with Joshua, there was once a debate who was top dog? Something to prove, that's gone. That only remains with the Usyk doubt, who Fury must fight at the very least before retiring.

Fury beats Usyk, I think he can walk away without people calling for him that he has to fight somebody else, as there is always somebody else. He would have came, conquered, and left, should he walk away after that. Not fighting Usyk would leave a permanent doubt on his career. Nash out.

Yo MVP post