Can we got some love for that round. He looked on his way out I the 9th, never seen him so flat footed and tired. Everything that a boxer needs was on show in the 10th round. Credit to AJ too as he landed a big bomb too but Usyk is just incredible
No way was Usyk on the way out. He didn’t look great but never looked close to being dropped never mind stopped. He anticipates well and is able to roll and slip punches when is more stationary. He knows his craft. He doesn’t need to go back to the corner and ask for advice like Joshua. The way he turned it on was impressive. Did you see that the bloke who scored it to Joshua had Joshua winning the final round? Wasn’t 10, 11 and 12 clear Usyk rounds? I really thought he needed the KO. Split decision is a real joke.
The narrative that Usyk was on the way out in the 9th needs to stop. If you watch it back he wasn't really caught with anything clean, not buzzed and not even close to being knocked down let alone stopped. It was just an uncomfortable round trying to avoid someone coming forward throwing the kitchen sink.
Every time Joshua moved his arm, Macklin screamed good left or right even if the punch was never thrown or missed. In addition, one would have thought Joshua was producing a masterclass listening to his gash when he was landing very little nearly every round. Absolute garbage from Sky Sports commentary as usual and they badly need professional commentors who objectively comment on what is actually happening in the ring not what they want to happen.
Usyk’s fitness levels are unreal, whether he’s on drugs or not. That was an amazing round. It was like a football team conceding a goal and scoring an equaliser straight away.
It's things like this that make me glad I watched the fight in a noisy pub. The commentary for many fights, particularly the big ones, make me want to throw up my spleen.
I agree, it was Joshua's best spell out of both fights, and it was the only time that maybe usyk felt all 35 of his years and those 300 fights, but that doesnt mean he didnt know how to handle it and did so for remainder of the fight. Unanimous decision for me, god knows how feldman got crack into the country to help him get that score
Here is my opinion. When people say "usyk looked like he was on his way out" don't really mean he was on chicken legs barely holding on. What I think they mean (myself included) is that once AJ has your hurt like how he hurt Usyk....it's over (minus ruiz) povetkin vs aj is a great analogy.
I think a lot of round 9 was tactics for usyk. As much as joshua went for it....i think usyk decided to ride it out and let him punch himself out. Could have fired back at any time in that round...but decided not to as he had one eye on round ten and tiring joshua out. Agree with the guy above joshua actually did hurt him in the tenth with a punch more so than the ninth. I think what sets usyk apart probably more so than the very high skill level...is his stamina management. Still say its their number one goal in a fight. Tire the opponent. They do it by drawing punches. By firing back just after the opponents been forced into a fight to stop them getting their recovery. Its the reason bellew and chisora done well early. They dont mind dropping some rounds if....they know their effectively depleting the opponents gas tank. Will be interesting with fury. I think fury will have too much size/weight for him. Fury can punch his weight when he wants to. But i m genuinely interested to see how furys tank holds up. Hes got a brilliant gas tank. But hes pretty much always controlled a fight. Will be interesting if usyk can get him fighting every minute of every round pushing straight on him after furys been on the attack. I think both will try to do it to each other tbh. Fury done similar to wilder. Was straight on him straight after wilder attacked.
Agreed. Joshua having his best round out of 24 doesn't mean Usyk was in bother, just means AJ was better than the sack of shyte he was for most of the other rounds.