Usyk v AJ 2 - the 9th round...

He barely landed a clean shot on Usyk. Usyk has a way of looking dishevelled when he's in full defensive mode. The way he coils his body and darts around is incredibly effective, however. The only time he was in pain was with the low blow. I think people were just struck by Joshua actually stepping in and trying to do something. He's definitely not that brave relative to the level he's boxing at and the hype around him.

 

DAZN posted the 9th & 10th in a video on youtube and I felt the same. It was dramatic because Joshua hadn't gone after Usyk like that in the previous 20 rounds they'd fought. He landed a few good shots, that's about it. Usyk was defending intelligently and countering too. If anything, it was Joshua's final attempt at really winning, which failed, more than him actually turning the tide.

 

I was surprised that Usyk didn't try to move away

But once he dipped down to protect his body it was clear he needed to manoeuvre carefully to avoid getting hit from the bumrush. AJ missed pretty much all the follow up shots and Usyk clearly planned for the clinch as opposed to ring circling out.

Problem against Fury is the clinch will be hell on earth.

 

What he did in the 9th round is what he should have done way earlier.

 

The 9th was Joshua actually trying to do something, and then the 10th came and Usyk completely shattered what was left of Joshua's mental toughness.

 

What he did earlier led to what happened in the 9th round. AJ did very well in the first half of the fight.

 

He was getting schooled in the first half of the fight. At times he had Usyk up close and threw a couple of punches and then stopped where as he should have been obliterating Usyk's ribs.

 

The ninth round was an opportunity for Usyk to let Joshua use up the little energy he had left.

And he seized it.

 

Nah he was outboxing and exposing Usyk until the late rally. The body shots were wearing Usyk down. It was competitive early on but AJ was beating him to the punch and landing the better more impressive shots. It was a very shaky Usyk performance until that late rally.

 

Usyk easily pushing AJ off him was the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen in boxing

AJ is not a good inside fighter. He is pretty useless.

 

I know it's truly baffling isn't it how wrong someone can be.

 

That's because he's a new breed of heavyweight.