Usyk: the new heavyweight king

WBA Press

Oleksandr Usyk featured one of the greatest heavyweight moments of these times. He arrived in London against the odds and defeated Anthony Joshua by unanimous decision to win the World Boxing Association (WBA) Super Championship, along with the IBF, WBO, and IBO belts at the Totteham Hotspur Stadium.

The judges scored the bout 117-112, 116-112, and 115-113, which gave the Ukrainian a unanimous decision victory to win the belts held by the Briton.

The venue had 60 thousand people cheering for the home fighter. Joshua received the support of most of the crowd and combined that motivational factor with the fact that he was bigger (20 pounds heavier), younger, and more experienced in the category.

But from the first moment, Usyk made it clear that he was all in for the victory and made a very mobile fight, circling Joshua and throwing punches with force. The good news for the southpaw fighter was that from the moment he landed the first punch he knew he could hurt Joshua and that gave him confidence.

In fact, in the third round he managed to put the hitherto champion in trouble with a straight left and that was Usyk’s first big moment in the fight. In the middle rounds, Joshua was able to get a distance that favored him and connected good punches, especially straight rights and uppercuts to the body that pushed the challenger back.

Those punches caused a cut on his eyebrow, but the 34-year-old fighter, instead of running away, continued with his plan, which helped him close well and connect the best punches. He even gave away 20 intense seconds at the end of the fight in which Joshua stayed on his feet out of pure heart but badly hurt.

Usyk is the new unified heavyweight champion and improved his record to 19 wins, no losses, and 13 KOs. Joshua, who made a great performance, dropped his record to 24 wins, 2 losses, and 22 KOs.