Oleksandr Usyk confirmed his royal status – Sport – Kommersant

Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk, who sensationally won the world heavyweight title according to the International Boxing Federation (IBF), the World Boxing Association (WBA) and the World Boxing Organization (WBO) last year, defended them, and in the second fight, which took place in Saudi Arabia, defeating the former king of the category Briton Anthony Joshua on points. This time – in an equal duel. After him, two judges gave the victory to Usyk, one to his opponent.

Those who wanted the phenomenal athlete Anthony Joshua to still severely punish the upstart Oleksandr Usyk, who in September last year, shortly before moving to heavyweight from the first heavyweight conquered by him (up to 90.7 kg), confidently won in London, the king of his new category, having taken three championship belts from the Briton, at the beginning of their second fight, they should have been enthusiastic. The picture in the Jeddah Superdome almost copied the London one: all events unfold in the center of the ring, Usyk, of course, moves more, and Joshua, who is superior in size, of course, looks more like someone who is waiting for a chance for a killer blow. But there were some nuances.

Now these dances from Alexander Usik did not seem to bother Anthony Joshua too much. He was ready for them and in general for any move from the mobile enemy: he fought calmly, even economically. And in the second round, finally, he fired not blanks, but quite live cartridges, hitting well first with a jab, and then with a right to the body. At the same time, the old tricks of the former dividends did not bring Usyk. Joshua remained out of range.

However, in the third round, the enthusiasm of the British fans should have been replaced by wariness. The Ukrainian terribly promptly made small but important adjustments to his style – he began to move sideways more often, leaving the line of fire, he began to turn on his own jab more actively, that is, his right hand flying out at curious angles. And there was no longer any talk of Joshua’s superiority, at least formally – by touching someone else’s body. This was by no means a one-time outburst.

Slightly rebuilt, adding in variability, Usyk soon made us forget that the Briton had just seemed to be the favorite of the fight. There is no favorite in him.

The sixth round in this sense was extremely revealing. Anthony Joshua was good along the way. He got to the body of Oleksandr Usyk, he tried to push. But in the end, the Ukrainian exploded with two spectacular combinations that eclipsed all the achievements of Joshua. And the commentators of the DAZN service broadcasting the fight after this round reported that, in their opinion, it was the champion who should lead the score, albeit with a symbolic margin.

Anthony Joshua, raising the degree of aggressiveness, showed that he had not yet put all the cards on the table. No, he still had enough of them. The Briton worked well in the eighth round and brilliantly in the ninth. In it, for the first time, as part of his confrontation with Alexander Usik, he acted as a cruel hunter, driving the victim, who only thinks about how to get out of the cannonade with minimal losses. But Usyk responded to this bashing with a wonderful tenth round. In it, he was already giving a thrashing to his opponent, unexpectedly emerging next to him at the moment when Joshua probably thought that he had already fought back for sure.

The final two rounds did not clarify anything in the layout. They were equal, these two rounds, which are called “champion” rounds, are decisive.

And after them, unlike the first fight, in which Usyk, in fact, dominated, an intrigue hung over the ring: it is unlikely that even one of the people who are well versed in boxing could predict the verdict with confidence. The first announcer announced the score set by Glenn Feldman – 115:113 in favor of Joshua. But the cards of his two colleagues – Steve Gray and Viktor Fesechko – did not play in favor of the Briton. And Gray, Fesechko gave the victory – 115:113 and 116:112 – Usyk, who may soon have to take part in an even more significant fight – for the title of the absolute world champion with the owner of the belt of the World Boxing Council (WBC), compatriot Joshua Tyson Fury .

Alexey Dospekhov