Aleksandr Usyk: I will fight Anthony Joshua

By Tim Royner: WBO World cruiserweight champion Aleksandr Usyk (13-0, 11 KOs) is looking beyond his unification fight this Saturday night against WBC champion Mairis Briedis (23-0, 18 KOs) towards a title shot in the future against IBF/WBA heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua (20-0, 20 KOs).

Usyk and Briedis will be fighting this Saturday night at the Arena Riga, in Riga, Latvia. This is Briedis’ hometown. Don’t be surprised if Usyk loses this fight. If Usyk does, he’s going to look silly with the way he’s been talking up a fight against Joshua. Usyk is not that kind of a talent at cruiserweight. He’s not another Evander Holyfield, who first turned pro at cruiserweight and moved up to heavyweight to win world titles. Usyk is a finesse fighter in the Chris Byrd mold. For Usyk to move up and beat someone like Joshua, it’s going to take a miracle and some arguably favorable judging. Usyk did not look good in his fight against Joe Joyce in the World Series of Boxing. Joyce was landing a lot of punches, and he appeared to stun Usyk at one point. Usyk looked exhausted, weak and small inside the ring with Joyce. I can only imagine what it would be like for Usyk to fight Joshua. It would be a mismatch.

Usyk is still fighting with his same amateur style that he used in Ukraine. It’s still working for him, but he’s going to have to change that lancing type of fighting if he wants to move up and take on Joshua or any of the champions. Usyk fights more like a fencer with him landing with jabs with the tip of the gloves, which is what is taught to amateurs so they can score points in amateur competition. Usyk doesn’t sit down on his punches in the pro ranks.

Usyk, 31, says he will definitely be fighting Joshua at some point. Usyk doesn’t say when that fight will happen, but it’s likely that he’s counting on it taking place soon. Usyk believes he’s going to win the World Boxing Super Series (WBSS) tournament by beating the 33-year-old Briedis on Saturday in their semifinals match, and then progress to the finals to defeat the winner of the other semifinals fight in the WBSS tournament between Yunier WBA cruiserweight champion Dorticos and IBF champion Murat Gassiev. Once Usyk is crowned the WBSS tournament winner, he’s expected to move up to heavyweight to go after a title fight against Joshua.

Usyk and Joshua both won gold medals in the 2012 London Olympics. Usyk’s gold medal, like Joshua’s, was controversial, as many boxing fans thought he should have lost his fight against Artur Beterbiev. Usyk won the fight by the score 17-13, but Beterbiev appeared to land the more telling blows. The scoring seemed to reflect the judges liking the weaker jabs that Usyk was landing more so than the far more harder power punches that Beterbiev was connecting with. Had that fight been at the professional level with judges that score rounds based on the cleaner, harder punches, Beterbiev would have won.

“I will move up to heavyweight and show them all how good I am. I think you can see yourself, I will fight him (Joshua). Not yet though,” Usyk said to skysports.com. ”Once we go face to face, we will find out. It will be good.”

It makes sense for Usyk to talk up a fight with Joshua, as he’ll make a lot of money fighting the British heavyweight. There’s no real money for Usyk to make by staying at cruiserweight. Usyk is targeting the heavyweight division and Antony Joshua because he can make retirement money fighting him. It doesn’t matter if Usyk loses to Joshua. The money he’ll make from the fight will be so good that he won’t need to win. Look at Joshua’s next opponent WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker. He’s expected to make a minimum of $12 million to fight Joshua as the World Boxing Organization champion. The 26-year-old Parker isn’t a popular heavyweight, and yet he’s still going to make $12 million minimum for the fight. Usyk might not make nearly that much as a contender, but even if he makes half of that amount, that’s a lot of money for him to take home.

The sanctioning bodies will likely push Usyk quickly to the No.1 spot once he moves up to the heavyweight division. Usyk probably won’t have to work his way up from the bottom of the rankings at No.15 like most heavyweights that turn pro and starting fighting. With Usyk being an unbeaten former cruiserweight world champion and 2012 Olympic gold medalist, the sanctioning bodies will almost surely vault him to the No.1 spot. What would be bad for Usyk though is if Joshua is knocked out by WBC heavyweight champion Deontay ‘Bronze Bomber’ Wilder (39-0, 38 KOs) before he ever gets a chance to fight him. If Wilder defeats Joshua in 2018, then he might not be as popular after that compared to way he is now, and that could result in Usyk making less money to fight him. If Joshua is no longer a heavyweight world champion, it takes some of the interest away from him and Usyk fighting each other. Instead of it being a world title fight, it would be sold as a match between 2 2012 Olympic gold medalists. That’s less of a big deal than if both guys are unbeaten and Joshua holds down the IBF, WBA, WBC and WBO heavyweight titles. Joshua is hoping that he can unify the heavyweight division in 2018 with his fights against WBO champion Joseph Parker (24-0, 18 KOs) and WBC champion Deontay Wilder. If that fails to happen, it’ll hurt Usyk with the money that he can make fighting Joshua. Usyk won’t get the same payday fighting Wilder, and it would be a much harder fight for him. Usyk won’t have the advantage with his outside game that he’s enjoyed since his amateur days. He won’t be able to just jab and win his fights in that manner like he is now. Wilder will be able to out-jab Usyk, and he’ll have the better power. For Usyk to beat Wilder, it might come down to him winning a controversial decision like we saw in the 2012 Olympics with his questionable win over Beterbiev.

”I like Britain because that is where boxing was born. The fans over there still follow me and watch me, so I will always try and show them my best,” Usyk said.

Usyk is getting up there in age at 31, and his game is more based on movement and jabbing than with his power shots. At cruiserweight, Usyk is not a big puncher. At heavyweight, Usyk will have even less power. He’ll need to put on weight, and that could slow him down considerably. Usyk likes to bounce around the ring. Can he do that with him carrying 240 pounds instead being in the 215 range? It’s doubtful. Usyk might opt to keep his weight low in the 220s the way Alexander Povetkin has, but that’ll put him at a disadvantage against the stronger heavyweights. Wilder only weighs 220, but he possesses freakish power due to the leverage he gets from his 6’7” frame. Usyk doesn’t have that kind of height or power. That’s why it’s going to be important for him to gain some weight so he won’t be over-matched in the power and size department.

Usyk did not look so impressive beating 2012 U.S Olympian Michael Hunter last year in April. Usyk won the fight by a 12 round unanimous decision by the scores 117-111, 117-111 and 117-111, but it was still a very competitive fight. Usyk did not look like the type of talent that can move up to heavyweight and beat any of the champions in that weight class without controversy like we saw in the Olympics. It obviously helps fighters when they win gold medals, but it’s doubtful that Usyk will ever beat any of the current champions at heavyweight. Joshua is too big, too strong and too skilled for Usyk.

Usyk should really keep his nose on the grindstone and concentrate on the task at hand in trying to beat Briedis on Saturday. Usyk could very well lose this fight. Briedis is the harder puncher and he has a style that is more oriented to the professional level than Usyk. Judges expect fighters to fight with the professional style, and Usyk is still fighting like a fencer. Moreover, Briedis is fighting at home in Riga, Latvia. That counts for a lot. Usyk might run out of luck on Saturday. He got lucky in the Olympics against Beterbiev due to the way the judges scored the fight, but at the pro level, he could lose because the judges expect fighters to land harder, cleaner landing punches. This is no longer fencing. This is real boxing at the professional level. Amateur boxing is a completely different sport. It’s like comparing arena football to the NFL.