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

The fact that some people actually believe AJ was outboxing Usyk.... I mean... ****ing hell. I don't even know what to say.

I'll give some of you the benefit of the doubt and assume you're high as **** all the time.

 

It's not a matter of belief. AJ was ahead after 3 rounds and was ahead again after 9 rounds. He was outboxing Usyk, that much was pretty clear. He wouldn't have been winning if he wasn't outboxing him. Usyk is not as good as you guys want him to be. He was getting beat by AJ, but he turned it around in the last 3 rounds and pulled it out late by split decision. And I come on here and I see a bunch of fanboys crying about scorecards again. The scorecards were fine, the fight could have gone either way with how well AJ did over the first 9 rounds. AJ was in position to win after 9, but he let it slip away in rounds 10 and 11. That's what happened and there's nothing about that to object to. For anyone to deny that's what happened is deluded. Both guys fought their hearts out and gave us a great fight. It's a disservice to boxing to act like Usyk was doing better than he was. AJ was the ring general in there for the first 9 rounds and he was winning. I was gutted fo AJ as it looked like he was on his way to winning for most of the fight, especially after round 9, but then it got away from him late. But great fight nonetheless. And the end result doesn't detract from how well AJ fought. AJ impressed me more than Usyk did. Usyk really struggled here, and there's no point in denying how much better AJ looked after training with Robert Garcia. AJ really paced himself well, came in with a great gameplan, and he came very close to knocking off Usyk. The consistent body work was very effective, he was landing very accurately and kept a tight guard that blocked lot of Usyk's shots. AJ was rangier than usyk and was timing Usyk's bobbing and weaving with stiff jabs and well timed straights. It was very fun to watch AJ do what he did to Usyk, too bad he just couldn't finish the job in the last 3 rounds. But there's a lot for AJ to be proud of and to build on.

 

This is why I still rate AJ highly, he would have landed most of the punches that Usyk evaded on every other HW, people need to acknowledge Usyk's greatness.
Usyk has been hiding his aces throughout all his career, he's never really used head movement much since he turned pro, he kept that under wraps and unleashed it only when fighting AJ, his head movement is something special, he is special.

Canelo who is the 'king' of head movement has wet dreams about Usyk's head movement

 

Mr Feldman, it's nice to see you on this forum.

 

You're a "writer" for Boxing News 24, aren't you?

 

I also thought they overstated how dominant Joshua was in the 9th

 

I just think you like being controversial for the sake of it, Usyk outlanded Joshua in 9 out of the 12 rounds. And landed more power punches in 8 out of 12 rounds, another substantial stat considering Joshua is supposed to be the power puncher.

This fantasy about "Joshua's ring generalship" is just that a fantasy in your own head. Joshua stood cautiously behind his guard, allowing the smaller man to dictate the action on the outside and outhustle him.

Lastly calling other people deluded when your the same guy, that debated for weeks about "Canelo's punches landing on Bivol's arms" don't make me laugh.

 

I'm actually with you that 7-5 Usyk wasn't a terrible scorecard. But 7-5 Joshua? No way Joshua was winning 7-2.

 

In retrospect for me, the best part of this fight was having Michael Buffer as the announcer.

Both fighters were far too cautious, they were more concerned with taking a punch instead of landing a punch.

 

Did not read.

 

Usyk always looks like that when responding to an onslaught.. This is why some seem to think Chisora had him in all sorts of bother when all it was was the way Usyk defends for a bit of variety..

Maybe he like to string his opposition along?? Eithway Usyk was fine in the 9th round..

 

Wtf? Joshua was missing a LOT rounds 1-7, with Usyk defensivley excellent and countering beautifully. Don't let the couple of decent body shots AJ actually scored fool you.

 

I agree, this was Usyk's best defensive performance ever imo

 

Exactly. I saw the same thing in rewatching it. Usyk was avoiding the vast majority of punches Joshua was throwing. Good observation.