The fight that no-one wanted: Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk

Around six months ago, everybody thought that Anthony Joshua’s next fight would be up against fellow Brit Tyson Fury, a title unification fight that undoubtedly would have been one of the biggest of all time.

However, after the news was announced that Deontay Wilder had exercised a clause in his fight contract with Fury to take his rivalry against Fury to a third bout, Joshua was pitted against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk, a boxer who will be believe he can win and who poses a completely different set of challenges to Fury.

Usyk, who has only relatively recently made the step up from the cruiserweight division, where he was one of the best fighters of all time, has had an impressive career so far, recording 18 victories (with 13 by knockout), and is perhaps the best boxer Joshua will have faced in his career so far. However, he has only had two heavyweight fights, and is aiming for Joshua’s titles at an incredibly early stage.

Even so, at 34, Usyk is a vastly experienced boxer, after 350 bouts as an amateur at various weight classes before turning professional, honing his technical ability to a level that is virtually unmatched on the world stage. Naturally, having made the step up from cruiserweight, he is by the smaller and less powerful of the two, standing at 6ft 3 to Joshua’s 6ft 6, but should the fight go the distance, Usyk will be hoping to outbox Joshua and take his world titles.

Derek Chisora, who Usyk beat in his most recent bout, explained: “He’s good if you let him be good. You have to hit him – do not fight his fight.” If Usyk is allowed by Joshua to fight his own fight, he most certainly has a good chance of winning.

Despite this, Joshua is the favourite, and expected to win. In many ways, the boxing world is hoping that he does so that, should Fury beat Wilder, the fight that we have all been waiting for finally occurs. Joshua has always been a heavyweight, with 24 professional bouts alongside another 30 amateur fights. He has the longer reach, the harder punch, and is certainly not a bad technical boxer himself. If he catches Usyk, in front of his home crowd of 60,000 at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, it will certainly be interesting to see how the Ukrainian deals with it.

Usyk will be no easy target for Joshua, and the former Olympic champion knows it

However, all of these advantages and more were possessed by Joshua when he took on Andy Ruiz Jr. only two fights ago. This is the only loss on Joshua’s record and, even if he wins many more fights in the future, it will always be a reference point for any smaller underdog against Joshua.

Ruiz simply out-boxed Joshua, throwing a storm of punches that Joshua was unable to deal with and adjust to. He failed to capitalise on his own knockdown of Ruiz, and faced the consequences. Usyk is a better fighter than Ruiz was and, as the rounds start to mount up, and if Joshua fails to knock him out, a monumental upset could occur that would leave any possible fight against Fury a distant memory.

Eddie Hearn, Joshua’s promoter, has said that Usyk is “the toughest mandatory defence you can find. Horrible style [Usyk is a southpaw – Joshua has only fought one other in the past], boxing genius – just a great, great fighter”.

However, while recognising the difficulty of the fight, he has belief in his man: “AJ loves the challenge. He loves to know how good he is. He wants to show the world how good he is on Saturday night. Not just by knocking him out, but by out-skilling him as well.”

Joshua himself has cast doubt on Usyk’s ability at the heavyweight category. “Usyk’s fought two heavyweights. He’s jumping in at the deep end early on,” but this is undoubtedly just the usual trash-talk that precedes a fight of this magnitude. Usyk will be no easy target for Joshua, and the former Olympic champion knows it.

In my eyes, this fight will go one of two ways. Joshua will be aiming to knock Usyk out early on, and he certainly has the ability to achieve this. If he does not, and the fight goes the distance, Usyk will win on the scorecard, being, in my opinion, the far better boxer. Whatever happens, however, there can be no doubt that this fight will be one to keep your eyes on, and, who knows, it may even throw up an upset.