Dominant Usyk ends Joshua 2nd ‘reign’ as heavyweight champion
LONDON, Sept 26, (AP): Slumped helplessly on the ropes, Anthony Joshua greeted the final bell - and what he knew was the end of his second reign as world heavyweight champion - with a wry smile.
Oleksandr Usyk knew it, too, dropping to his knees and looking to the sky.
In just his third fight since stepping up from the cruiserweight division, Usyk delivered a clinic in movement and fast punching to claim a unanimous points win over Joshua in front of 66,267 stunned fans inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London.
Usyk became the third man, after Evander Holyfield and David Haye, to win world titles at cruiserweight then heavyweight. Six years after Wladimir Klitschko’s long heavyweight reign ended, Ukraine has another champion in boxing’s marquee division.
“The fight went exactly as I expected it to go,” Usyk said through a translator. “There were a couple of moments when Anthony pushed me hard but nothing special.”
After the judges scored the fight 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 in favor of the 34-year-old Usyk, Joshua - sporting a closed right eye - walked over to Usyk’s corner and congratulated the Ukrainian’s team.
Dominated by a smaller, lighter and much faster opponent, Joshua lost his WBA, WBO and IBF titles for a second time - more than two years after a defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. in New York that he immediately avenged in Saudi Arabia.
Joshua will have the chance to do the same thing - there is a rematch clause in the deal with Usyk - in a bid to keep alive his ultimate goal: To become undisputed champion. The British public, who have followed Joshua’s journey from Olympic champion through to world champion, was hoping for an all-British fight against WBC champion Tyson Fury to unify the four belts.