Oleksandr Usyk Outclasses Anthony Joshua, Wins Heavyweight Gold

The heavyweight title fight between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk is in the books.

Earlier today (Sept. 25), Joshua put his WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO gold on the line against Usyk. The action was held inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, England.

On this day, Usyk reigned supreme.

Usyk demonstrated his solid footwork early in the fight and landed some solid lead left hands in the opening frame. Joshua was able to land a right hand but it appeared the round went to the challenger.

The movement of Usyk continued to give “AJ” problems. Usyk buckled the legs of Joshua in the third round with an overhand left. Joshua recovered and returned fire to end the round.

Joshua sensed a need to reverse course in rounds four and five. He started connecting more and gave Usyk fewer opportunities for the straight left. Usyk was able to land a solid one in round five, but Joshua found the body more.

Round six was “AJ’s” best round up to this point. He landed a hard straight right hand. He didn’t allow Usyk to get back in the groove for this stanza.

The seventh round was all Usyk. He had Joshua stumbling back with a left hand. Joshua’s guard was down too low and Usyk was capitalizing throughout the round.

Joshua was able to halt Usyk’s momentum in the eighth round by landing the cleaner punches. Usyk appeared to slow down a bit by round nine but he landed a big left hand.

The two went back-and-forth in the 10th round. A cut appeared to be bleeding into the eye of Usyk, while one of Joshua’s eyes was closing up. Usyk really poured things on in the 11th round, landing a clean uppercut and picking his shots well.

Usyk dominated “AJ” in the final round. He landed punches seemingly at will and Anthony Joshua was clearly rocked. The final bell sounded and “AJ” looked completely out of it.

The score totals were read and thankfully, there was no robbery here. The judges scored the fight 117-111, 116-112, and 115-113 all in favor of Usyk.