By Jim Calfa: Oleksandr Usyk would like to fight Tyson Fury next if it were up to him, but he must attend to Anthony Joshua’s rematch next April. Usyk has no choice but to face AJ, given that the big British heavyweight has forced his head by activating the rematch clause from their previous fight this year on September 25th.
Once IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) gets the second fight with Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) out of the way, he’ll turn his attention to a clash against WBC champion Fury for the undisputed championship in the second half of 2022.
Joshua wants vengeance after being humiliated by the underdog Usyk last September at the Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium in London. That was a fight that Joshua was supposed to win easily but was a pure unadulterated disaster.
Usyk wants to become a two-division undisputed champion, and the only things that stand in his way are Joshua and Fury. In 2018, Usyk defeated Murat Gassiev to become the undisputed champion at cruiserweight.
Joshua should have vacated
In hindsight, Joshua should have done the intelligent thing and cast his WBO strap adrift so he could swerve Usyk. Some boxing fans suggested as much ahead of time, but Joshua wanted nothing of it and foolishly stormed straight forward into the rout.
“The victory happens, and people are changing their [ideas about me], and it’s their right,” said Usyk to Forbes on his win over Joshua.
“I felt before Joshua that I would just keep working on my state of being prepared. I might want to fight Fury or Wilder, but for now, I’m concentrating on the rematch with Joshua,” said Usyk.
As long as Usyk isn’t looking past Joshua, he should have minor problems beating him a second time to send him into early retirement.
Usyk isn’t the type to look past an opponent, so there’s little chance that he’ll take his eyes off the prize.
Although Usyk would like nothing better than to get the fight on with WBC champion Fury now, he’s got to take care of one last hurdle against Joshua before he can get to that fight.
Once Joshua is sent skittering down to a second defeat in April, Usyk can move on to bigger and better things in his much-desired undisputed championship bout with Fury (31-0-1, 22 KOs).
“Of course, me and my team pay attention to that,” Usyk said about Joshua seeming nervous before their fight. “They observe and analyze. We try to make our observations work. I did notice that he was quite tired after the fight. I noticed that before the first fight with Ruiz. He looked strange,” said Usyk.
Joshua looked entirely unsettled going into the Usyk fight last September, and one could tell that his mind was in a terrible state.
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