Apart from Klitschko, this is his only decent fight on paper and in the ring. The man loves his puddings
The way I see it Joshua has to take Usyk out early. If Usyk can take the power (or avoid getting hit) and start establishing the jab and working the body, Joshua will tire quickly. If Usyk can replicate the pace he fought Bellew at Joshua will fatigue. I think Joshua will come in quite light for this one and prepare for going twelve because there’s no way Usyk will get a decision IMO with the Fury money on the line.
I suspect the reason why September is the scheduled date is to give the maximum opportunity for a full capacity fight (everyone should be double jabbed by then and restrictions should all have been lifted). Restrictions could remain however so it’s hard to tell if Hearn/Sky would run a half full stadium show. As for the fight I’d favour Joshua by 70/30 simply because of the size difference.
I think this is a brilliant fight and will be an absolute chess match, will be shocked if either games the other out. I’ll have to lean towards Joshua because of his size, speed and power. But I’ve got it 55/45.
He can hit Big puncher ?? No but he hits hard enough, was able to floor and stop AJ. Wlad, Povetkin and Whyte can all bang but couldn't do what Ruiz did. You think Usyk can hit harder than Ruiz and is going to hurt or back AJ up ???
Well Wlad put AJ down but didn’t have the legs to get him out of there. AJ bottled the fight. Ruiz couldn’t even put a dent in an old, inactive Arreola.
Yeah. I think we are looking at summer next year. my actual guess is that Hearn and AJ might even decide to not wait around and let team fury organise the fight rather than chasing it. the thing is AJ can make solid money against Whyte and Ruiz while the like s of Hrgovic will be ready to go in 18 months too. Fury won’t have many sellable fights post Wilder.
It is a dangerous fight for AJ and jeopardises the chance of the Fury fight ever happening . Usyk has a better stoppage percentage than Ruiz and whilst a cruiser weight for most of career has beaten far more accomplished boxers than Ruiz and in my estimation that makes him a more difficult opponent. I would be surprised if he could stop AJ but I think his movement will enable him to negate AJ’s power and I have long felt that anyone who can make Joshua work at pace past 6 rounds stands a great chance.
It's a good fight. It's crazy how the hype for Usyk is near enough dead. I think Joshua beats him fairly easily. KO round 8-10.
Ruiz couldn't even wobble a shot to pieces and old Liakhovich, who had been dropped and knocked out brutally multiple times. Same with Zumbano Love, Godfrey, Lawrence, ghost of Kevin Johnson... Ruiz is not a big puncher. Joshua Usyk is one of my favourite pairings in boxing and I look forward to the bout. I wouldn't be particularly surprised with any possible result - I think Usyk has a real chance. I just wouldn't want to see a controversial Hearn Matchroom decision, which could easily happen with what's at stake. I don't think Usyk will get a fair decision and he will need to knock him out.
I think Usyk’s power is underrated although I can concede there is not much evidence for that at HW. But if Usyk times AJ on the counter for example, I can definitely see AJ getting floored. With Ruiz, don’t forget that Ruiz landed on his temple which is what made all the difference. If we were doing a like for like comparison I’d probably say Ruiz maybe does hit harder than Usyk but Ruiz is more handspeed and explosion than raw power. If you follow Usyk on IG you’ll see that he’s packed on some decent size gradually.
