Does he go back down to Cruiserweight? Retire? Continue to train at HW and work his way back up the ranks hopefully for another shot in 2023 at 36 years old? It's an interesting question.
Depends on his performance and manner of defeat. If he gets obliterated and doesn't hurt AJ then the weight ain't for him. It's going to be a very interesting fight.
This is how I see it. Joshua has to come out aggressive and use his speed. If he sits back he gives Usyk a chance.
I think if Joshua went hell for leather in the first three rounds he could potentially overwhelm Usyk, but he won't do that. He's not been that kind of fighter since Wlad almost stopped him and he doubled-down on a more cautious approach after Ruiz did what Wlad just failed to do. We know AJ gasses if he moves through the gears, and so must he, so his lack of stamina compounds the motivation to be circumspect. And as he's evolved as a fighter he's become more of a boxer/puncher too, therefore less likely to steamroller opponents. He also likes challenges, and the challenge of Usyk is his ring craft and movement. For me, everything points to a bit of a chess match in which Usyk jabs and moves in an attempt to take the fight into the championship rounds and AJ avoids over-committing in the early rounds to avoid gassing should the fight follow Usyk's plan. I think the fight might only spark into life in the latter rounds and might never do so. We could be in for a rather tepid and unsatisfactory fight which goes to the cards...
If I was Joshua, unless he's certain he's winning the rounds, he should go for a later KO/knockdown. Maybe around round 10/11. He may gas out, but he could also hurt Usyk which would make it even. A KO would be good, but a knockdown would make the different on cards probably.
It's highly possible it will only spark into life after nine rounds or so, when one of them feels the need to press the action and take risks.
Usyk might turn into business. Ppl are too much thinking that prizefighters might earn only in the ring. Usyk already had 2 pro events as a promoter. Hrgovic will KO him, Joyce he maybe will win, maybe. Vs Hrgovic, regardless how he looked in his fights, he will end on canvas. Trim down to CW? Okolie will KO him out COLD, most likely Dorticos, old Briedis too. Ohh, and yeah, Usyk is more suitable for HW than Gassiev, Dorticos or Briedis etc boxers. LOL, even Makabu does have more chances to KO AJ than Usyk. Usyk should loss this fight if A.J isn't bummy. Too much hype btw, Usyk did not had to do remathces in WBSS too, and LOL, he is world beater automatically. K2 stuff. Usyk is overrated because he is over the hill, Witherspoon fight had exposed this. Maybe he might won 1 fight vs A.J, I dunno. In long term it does not matter.
He wasn't overrated, he was underrated. Now he is slowed down in speed and this makes him overrated today ( not in past sense ). If he now was 29-32 y.o? LOL. It was different game then.
If he pushes Joshua hard/hurts him and loses by a split decision or late Brit style stoppage he probably deserves a rematch. I don't see any merit in him fighting another name for the privilege either if that's the case. If he loses decisively then maybe he has a decision to make.
why ? LOL. That's just weird thing to say that speed or lack of it could make someone overrated. Does speed only thing that Usyk had/has ? why put emphasis on speed ?
If he's competitive, he could still get a few more decent HW fights and then one more big payday title shot before riding off into his gap-toothed sunset. (If he's really competitive, who knows, could AJ give him a rematch if the winner of Fury v Wilder has no interest in a fight?) If he gets clobbered, then who knows. He'll probably attempt to go down the same path, but will be unsuccessful, since whatever flaws AJ would expose will be too hard to overcome at his age and at a weight class he may not be built for after all. I think it's pointless for him to go back down to CW. There's nothing left for him to prove there, and I would imagine there's a lot less money to be made at CW as well. I'd also guess there would be a mental component involved as well. Leaving the premiere division to go back to the nobodies of the CW division because you couldn't hack it - that's gotta be tough for a former undisputed, undefeated champion to handle.
