By: Sean Crose
“He has to be more aggressive,” said Honcho of Matchroom Boxing, Eddie Hearn Battle Center about what his boxer, Anthony Joshua, has to do in his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk. “Usyk,” he added, “is a great pound.” Usyk certainly looked great against Joshua last fall. Using a dizzyingly impressive skill set, the undisputed former cruiser champion surprised some by beating Joshua by decision. Usyk may have prevented a huge payday between Joshua and British colleague Tyson Fury, but right now Joshua must focus on getting his heavyweight title back from the Ukrainian.
“Anthony has great fundamentals, great boxing, but big size, great speed, great power, and I feel like he didn’t really use those,” Hearn said. that in the first game.” Sure enough, Joshua couldn’t seem to figure out where Usyk was during their fight last September. It’s clear he’ll want to approach the rematch differently. “It’s a science, and I think AJ complicated that too much in the first battle,” Hearn said. He was thinking too much about that science rather than being a bit older like Anthony Joshua.”
For the second time, Hearn wanted to see his boxer “trying to pull Usyk, but intelligently engaging him, not just recklessly pulling him.” However, Hearn was under no illusions how difficult another match against Usyk would be. “It’s going to be a very tough fight,” he said, “but (Joshua) is up for the challenge.” The towering British would have to be. For years, the heavyweight division seemed like it consisted mainly of three stages of climbing the ladder to the upper hand between Joshua, Fury and American tennis player Deontay Wilder. Fury essentially knocked Wilder off that ladder with two impressive wins over the “Bronze Bomber.”
If Joshua loses to Usyk again, he could also find himself thrown off the ladder. With a rematch possible in May, the Londoner has plenty of time to prepare. If he defeats Usky, Joshua will win the heavyweight title three times. He first lost his heavyweight belt in 2019 to Andy Ruiz, only to switch strategy and win those titles back from Ruiz about six months later. However, everyone, including Hearn, saw Usyk as the ultimate challenge Joshua faced. “It was a really difficult task,” Hearn admitted.
