Heavyweight layout – Kommersant Newspaper No. 151 (7352) dated 08/19/2022

Saturday in Saudi Arabia will host one of the most important and most misunderstood fights of the year in professional boxing. In it, Briton Anthony Joshua will try to regain the championship belts of the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) in heavyweight, which last year very confidently and effectively, despite the difference in size, took away he has a Ukrainian virtuoso Oleksandr Usyk. Joshua not so long ago, after losing to the American Andy Ruiz, has already had a chance to take a convincing revenge from an opponent-outsider who unexpectedly defeated the king of the category. But the case with Usyk differs too much from the previous one. First of all, the fact that after the first fight the outsider label somehow does not stick to the Ukrainian at all.

The “stuffing” of the battle, which will host the Jeddah Superdome, looks grandiose in every sense. Three championship belts and chic bonuses are at stake at once – well, let’s say, cash. Investors from Saudi Arabia, according to various British sources, paid at least $80 million for the right to host the main fight of the year in the heavyweight division, a significant part of which went to secure the prize fund. And if everything is in order with the TV audience of the fight, then, as it is believed, each of its participants will be able to count on a fee of $ 100 million, or even more.

But more importantly, he is apparently also the last step, a springboard before the event is very exceptional and very expensive – the fight for the title of absolute world champion in a special category, its unconditional king. A year ago, there was no doubt that soon two Britons would fight for such a status – and the colossal fees attached to it. Anthony Joshua has the titles of the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association and the World Boxing Organization, Tyson Fury has the title of the World Boxing Council, they have no equal. Everything just screams that a collision is inevitable. The cards were confused by Oleksandr Usyk, who jumped to heavyweight from the first heavyweight (up to 90.7 kg). In September last year, in the third fight in the new category, Usyk, who was still not perceived as a real competitor for its two two-meter leaders due to at least the difference in size, won Joshua in London, postponing the unification of the belts. Instead, there is a re-fight between the British and the Ukrainian under the close, apparently, gaze of Tyson Fury, who either ends his career in words or resumes it, but in reality, of course, he is probably just waiting for clarity with his future opponent.

Meanwhile, Saturday’s battle is distinguished just by the mysterious alignment. Everyone who compiled his “billboard”, of course, reminded that Anthony Joshua was not the first time he found himself in a situation where, in order to keep the belts and all the advantages associated with them, it is required to take revenge from the upstart opponent. In 2019, the Briton was laid on the floor by fat man Andy Ruiz. A few months after that misfire, Joshua, in Saudi Arabia, easily took revenge on the American.

But in reality, if anything unites these two fights, then only the place of the second fight. In the case of the defeat from Ruiz, his simple nature was crystal clear. The strongest of the two boxers underestimated the opponent’s motivation and suffered a well-deserved punishment. In order to be rehabilitated, it was only necessary to bring oneself into the usual form – mentally in the first place. And against the “normal” Anthony Joshua, Andy Ruiz had no prospects.

In the case of the defeat from Usyk, everything is much more complicated. You can’t say about the London fight that everyone saw in it some other Joshua who didn’t look like himself. He made no obvious mistakes, his appearance did not hint at the neglect of the loads in the training camp. Yes, in fact, he fought the way he always did, but the fact is that for almost all 12 rounds, Usyk’s superiority in mobility, sharpness, and tactical flexibility was enormous. And the fact that the Briton did not get a single more or less real opportunity to use his lethal right.

Such a misfire no longer insists on cosmetic, but on radical adjustments. The fact that Anthony Joshua switched coaches from Rob McCracken to Robert Garcia after his loss shows that he at least recognized the need for them. Garcia is a man who has “upgraded” almost a dozen boxers to the championship level. And all of his most famous students – Mikey Garcia, Marcos Maidana, Nonito Donaire, Antonio Margarito – are representatives of the categories lighter than average weight (up to 72.6 kg), that is, categories in which the qualities that distinguish Usyk are most valued – speed, technique .

But whether enough time has passed for Anthony Joshua to add in these aspects enough to stand on a par with Oleksandr Usyk is a big question. And trying to answer it to ESPN, for example, the famous British heavyweight Joe Joyce, who met in amateurs with both a British compatriot and a Ukrainian, hesitated in search of the right option. He painted the merits of Joshua for a long time, predicting that he, of course, would box “more effectively” than in September 2021, but in the end he admitted with the air of a person who understands the futility of such efforts, “but Usyk will add to efficiency.” And the American Deontay Wilder, from whom Tyson Fury took away the WBC title, did not hesitate for a second, immediately blurting out: “My heart tells me: Usyk will win easily.”

Alexey Dospekhov