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

[Haka]

If Derek Chisora can find Usyk in the opening rounds of a fight? Anthony Joshua if that was his intention 100%, can find Usyk.

Uysk's speed of foot is being overrated here. Chisora's movement is not the best, and he still found Usyk.

Usyk only created distance with Chisora, when he fatigued 'Otherwise he was all over the place, and could not cope with that type of pressure'.

Joshua's intention really was not to close down Usyk. There was moments in this rematch, were Joshua got on the inside vs Usyk almost by accident 'I then watched Joshua voluntary decide to deliberately remove himself from close range vs Usyk'.

Hear what I have just said. At times Joshua would get on the inside, then deliberately decide to move back into mid-range or long range. You just would not get this type of behavior from Chisora, Fury, Holyfield, Lewis any top heavyweight who knows how to close the distance and stay there.

No matter what Joshua and his team said before this fight. Joshua's intention was not to close down Usyk, and truly find him inside the ring.

Usyk won the fight, he won more rounds than last time. But he did not beat Joshua up, and never really hurt him that bad in my opinion.

Joshua could of changed the entire dynamic of this fight, if he had a solid Jab. I am astonished how under par his Jab is etc.

Are you 100% sure that Usyk wasn't just getting a 12 rounder in and trying to get some work ?

And a jab don't work when you don't have the coordination and the reflexes as Usyk. It does not matter, you can throw it against a bum and it looks fantastic, but throw it against Usyk and you will get worked all night off of that jab.

[P to the J]

P to the J I saw the fight exactly as you have described in your post. I was totally flabbergasted at the 115-113 for AJ and as soon as I heard that score, I was telling my son there is no way they can rob Usyk like this. Thankfully he won, but lord 115-113 AJ? I think AJ's biggest mistake was he didn't redline himself. Once he sustained his body attack in Rd9, I feel like he should have just left it all out to dry and totally spent himself. There is no shame in losing to a superior fighter whether its by decision or KO. I'd have more respect for him if he went out giving everything he had. Except we got to see the poor sport and mental meltdown of a man that was frustrated by a better fighter. This is how I will always remember AJ going forward. Not for his win vs Klitschko or his regaining of the unified title vs Ruiz, but for his 10 minutes post fight meltdown. He's got some life left in him in terms of fighting on. Maybe we can see the AJ-Wilder fight next year?

Yeah, the man has his number but for sure, there’s plenty of decent fights out there for AJ that’ll keep us on decent action for years to come.

The problem with the attack on Usyk is AJ was throwing the kitchen sink at him, and it he little to no effect, so I’m not sure how much more he could have given there.

[P to the J]

Are you 100% sure that Usyk wasn't just getting a 12 rounder in and trying to get some work ?

And a jab don't work when you don't have the coordination and the reflexes as Usyk. It does not matter, you can throw it against a bum and it looks fantastic, but throw it against Usyk and you will get worked all night off of that jab.

Totally agree with this. Everyone’s been fooled by the Chisora fight when the man was keeping his cards close to his chest.

Ofc, Usyk has shown the full repertoire vs. AJ, so perhaps there are no more surprises left for Fury

[P to the J]

You're not going to change anyone's minds.

Time to move on. We have a winner.

Ok, but let me rewatch the fight and initiate a post-fight topic just another 18 more times, first

[QueensburyRules]

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.

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

[RoadMan94]

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.

[baroidi]

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?

[RoadMan94]

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.

[4truth]

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?

Had Joshua not waited till the 8th and 9th to do what he should have done right out of the gate, it would have been a different fight. Joshua might have gone down in flames and been stopped but at least he would have given himself a chance.

[Haka]

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

Usyk operates on a different level. The team GB lab project cannot comprehend the slickness, and will never comprehend it. Watch AJ- Ruiz 1, Usyk 1 and 2, and you'll understand.

AJ didn't land a single clean punch in rd 9 and looked like a chasing fool. Usyk wasn't even scratched post-fight. Why do you think AJ stayed at Team GB for his whole career but this fight ? Something with needles...