I'm amazed that Usyk didn't knock him down in 24 rounds of action. It seems a bit of a taint on Usyk, but I suppose it should be seen as a credit to AJ.
There’s a reason that Usyk himself said that Fury was his best opponent. I know this forum might not like that but Fury had him flustered in their first fight. AJ had one round were Usyk was under a little pressure
Right, you'd think it was Joshua who won four consecutive rounds and had Usyk looking lost the way people slobber on around here. Not even close.
Oh, pretty sure he was bounced around like a pinball. Rewatch the fights. No chance he did better than Fury. Wonder how Usyk feels on this?
I'd say it was a slight improvement but people do exaggerate the improvement and performance a bit. It was a very clear loss still for AJ.
TalkSport, Feb 14 2025. Interviewer: ...coming off two back to back victories over Tyson Fury, I wonder, who is the toughest opponent you've ever faced? Usyk: ((long pause as he thinks)) I think it's Derek. https://talksport.com/boxing/2928316/oleksandr-usyk-tyson-fury-anthony-joshua-derek-chisora/ Edit: corrected the spelling error on the quote
Fury managed to put pressure on Usyk for 2-3 rounds there so I think he had a clearly better performance. AJ had momentum against Usyk in the 9th(?) of their second fight but if you mute the AJ commentators very little actually connected. I agree with OP, I think a lot of the myth is based on AJ having Usyk teetering that round but on the replay you can see Usyk is keeping well out of harms way.
Round 9 with commentary off is eye opening. On first watch it looks like Usyk is in trouble. On rewatch, he blocks almost everything. Joshua gassed out throwing punches that had little effect. Really, rewatch this round folks. Slowmo if you have to. The mythical h2h god that is Joshua in Usyk II is built largely on half a round of him spazzing out landing almost nothing. It's crazy.
I'm old as Sylvester Magee and can't remember people saying it was amazing, so, I don't know. ...Who took my apple sauce?
And AJ managed to fight 9 close rounds against Usyk and outland him troughout these rounds. That's a success in itself.
Though those with an agenda continually try and sweep the fact under the carpet, Fury did have Usyk flustered in the first fight.