By: Sean Crose
“He went abroad to prepare for the rematch.”
So Oleksandr Usyk’s coach told the heavyweight standard athlete Agence France-Presse (AFP). This is enough to indicate that Usyk has indeed left the war-torn Ukraine in preparation for a second showdown with Anthony Joshua, the man from which Usyk has won his title since last year. However, Usyk himself took to social media to tell the world, via video, that he would start training for the second Joshua fight. “I decided to start preparing for the rematch with Anthony Joshua,” Usyk wrote under the video. “A large number of my friends support me, all the rest are well and at peace, Thank God for everything,”
Usyk surprised some last fall when he knocked out towering Joshua in twelve rounds before stepping out of the ring with Joshua’s belt. A rematch was clearly orderly, but Russia’s invasion of Usyk’s homeland of Ukraine sent the fighter back home to serve the country as a member of the Territorial Defense Forces. Kyiv. “My duty is to protect my home, my family,” the IBF, WBA and WBO heavyweight champion athlete said at the time. “It’s not that I want to fight somewhere on the front lines. I am protecting my home. I am defending my wife, my children, my loved ones.”
Joshua promoter Eddie Hearn recently said that he feels Usyk-Joshua 2 will take place in the spring. “Is AJ vs Usyk happening now?” Hearn asked eloquently. “I really think it’s going to… I really think the fight is going to be next and it’s going to be in June.” In the light of things, Usyk is currently training at an undisclosed location, most likely due to safety precautions, as the 35-year-old is definitely one of the known Ukrainian citizens. come more. Whether the rematch with Joshua can end in June, as Hearn has indicated it can, remains to be seen.
