By Olu Allen
The IBF/WBA/WBO heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will be defending his heavyweight titles against WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk on September 25th on DAZN and Sky.
It is admirable Joshua is taking this fight against the 2012 Olympic gold medalist Usyk because this is a fight that he could lose. While Usyk hasn’t looked like the fighter to beat AJ in his two previous efforts since moving up to the heavyweight division in 2019, he’s added 15 lbs of bulk to his 6’3″ frame, and he could be dangerous for AJ.
Boxing pundits are overconfident that this fight will be a slamdunk victory for AJ. But one must not forget this was how many felt when it was AJ vs Andy Ruiz I in June 2019. AJ has been upset once.
We don’t know what Usyk is capable of with the weight that he’s packed on. Usyk’s shots looked weak like feather-dusters in his last fight against Derek Chisora last October, but things could change with his new physique.
Eddie Hearm revealed the new date on Friday. Joshua, 31, is risking everything by taking this fight with Usyk because if he gets beaten, the dream match that the fans have been clamoring for against Tyson Fury, will be over.
AJ could face Usyk in a rematch and possibly avenge the defeat, but you never know what would happen in a second fight between the two.
If Joshua’s mindset were the same as Tyson Fury’s, he would look to swerve the fight with Usyk by vacating it or asking the World Boxing Organization for an exception.
Although Fury try and skate out of his contractual rematch with Deontay Wilder to move on to face Joshua in the more lucrative fight, but that turned out to be a fail because Wilder’s management took it to an arbitrator in the United States, and he ruled in Deontay’s favor to force Fury to fight him again.
Former heavyweight world title challenger Hughie Fury will be fighting on the undercard of the Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk card on September 25th. However, there’s no word on who Hughie will be fighting on that date, but it’s likely to be another domestic or European-level fighter like the ones he’s been fighting.
Although Hughie is only 26-years-old, it seems like he’s been around forever because he started his professional career at the young age of 18 in 2013. His only defeats have come against former WBO heavyweight champion Joseph Parker in 2017, Kubrat Pulev in 2018, and Alexander Povetkin in 2019.
The argument has been that it was a bad move to throw Hughie in with those heavyweights, considering that he’d never beaten anyone half as good to show that he belonged inside the ring with them.
Hughie has won his two fights, beating Mariusz Wach and Pavel Sour since losing to Alexander Povetkin by a 12-round decision in a WBA title eliminator in 2019.
The news for now is Match room Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn has confirmed the news of the 26-year-old Fury (25-3, 14 KOs) being added to the Joshua – Usyk card at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London, England.
Hurrah! It is July…have a great month. KO all challenges!
