For Anthony Joshua, it was finally too much. Having been defeated for the second time by the outstanding Oleksandr Usyk and consequently failing in his bid to regain his status as heavyweight champion, he threw two of the victors’ three belts out of the ring before walking out -ne himself on what was a hot night in Jeddah, the Saudi Arabian city on the Red Sea, in more ways than one. Joshua made an early comeback but clearly the 32-year-old’s emotions were still getting the better of him. After appearing to exchange angry words with Usyk, he took the microphone and, in front of a crowd of around 10,000 gathered at this venue, delivered a curious monologue.
“If you knew my story you would understand the passion,” he declared. “I’m not an amateur boxer from the age of five who was an elite prospect from a young age. I was going to prison, I got bail and I started training my ass, I wanted to be able to fight”.
Cue confused silence among the attendees. And there was still more to come. “I’m not a 12-round fighter, look at me, I’m a new breed of heavyweight,” Joshua continued. “Mike Tyson, Sonny Liston, Jack Dempsey, ‘don’t throw combinations like Rocky Marciano’, I’m 18, I’m heavy, it’s hard work.”
Joshua’s speech came with some bad words but also congratulations for the man who had just defeated him. “This guy here is a phenomenal talent,” he said after putting his arm around Usyk. “Let’s cheer him three times.” And the crowd, however, was still clearly confused by what was going on.
And maybe Joshua didn’t know what he was doing, or what he was saying either. It certainly felt like a heat of the moment thing, brought on by a very real sense of hurt and disappointment.
Oleksandr Usyk poses with his world heavyweight titles after an impressive win over Anthony Joshua. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Action Images/Reuters
This was to be Joshua’s night of redemption as he reclaimed the WBA, WBO and IBF titles Usyk had taken from him when the pair met in Tottenham 11 months ago. The Ukrainian had been supreme on the night, but equally, Joshua had let himself down after making the curious decision to abandon his instincts and instead try to outwork his opponent. It was never going to work and he paid the price.
This time there had been no repeat mistakes. Armed with a new trainer in the highly respected Mexican-American Robert Garcia, Joshua promised to be more aggressive and delivered on his word, charging forward in the first round, securing the center of the ring in the second and constantly jabbing at his opponent . with loud punches, none more so than in the ninth round, when the challenger sent the champion reeling around the ring after unleashing hell.
But it was at that very moment that Usyk showed his class, blasting Joshua in the 10th with a big left hook and continuing to unload from there. He also dominated the final two rounds and, having largely impressed throughout the contest, it was no surprise when he was declared the winner, the only surprise being that it was by a split decision, with two of the judges delivering scores of 115-113 and 116-112 in his favor, while the other deemed Joshua the winner by a score of 115-113. Cue the raising of many eyebrows.
A questionable call, but also one that spoke to the display of guts Joshua put on here, and ultimately it would be a shame if it was overshadowed by his post-fight flashes of petulance. Defeat, a third in 27 fights as a professional, clearly hurt. Joshua had the opportunity to join Muhammad Ali, Lennox Lewis, Vitali Klitschko and Evander Holyfield to become a three-time heavyweight champion; instead it remains rudderless in its division and with few paths back to the top. Those pre-fight suggestions that this would be the right time for him to call it a day will only grow.
Meanwhile, for Usyk, a 20-match winning streak in two divisions firmly establishes him as one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the world and puts him in prime position for a mouth-watering unification battle with Tyson Fury if the 35 years come out of their final retirement period. It’s a fight Usyk wants. “I want to fight him and if I don’t fight Tyson Fury, I won’t fight at all,” he declared here, after paying tribute to the Ukrainian military, something of great importance to the 35-year-old. He spent time before this fight serving in his country’s armed forces as part of its defense against invading Russia. Usyk came here determined to give his war-torn homeland a reason to feel proud and happy, and indeed he did.
This was Joshua’s second time fighting in Saudi Arabia, following his win over Andy Ruiz Jr in Diriyah three years ago. As it happened then, both fighters were asked in the build-up about how they could possibly justify participating in an event that was clearly part of the kingdom’s sports washing strategy. Neither gave particularly satisfactory answers, with Joshua making it clear that he was “here for the boxing”. The £33m minimum purse that he and Usyk received to take on the Middle East certainly played a role in both their decisions.
So, finally, attention was focused on the Abdullah Sports City Arena, an impressive venue but inadequate for a contest of this magnitude as it only has a capacity for 10,000 spectators. To put that into context, a crowd of 68,000 turned out to watch these two fight in North London last year. The rematch clearly deserved a bigger stage, and the side effect of not having one was an atmosphere that rarely rose above politeness.
In fairness to those in attendance here, which included boxing legends Robert Duran and Naseem Hamed, the volume was pretty lively when Joshua and Usyk emerged to fight shortly after 1:00 local time and continued to build throughout the encounter epic
Usyk was initially able to keep Joshua at bay with his southpaw, but soon the challenger landed a succession of right hands. Usyk responded with a pair of club lefts in the fourth that forced Joshua back while also wearing him down with his signature, sly movement.
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But Joshua kept coming and connected with two crushing body shots in the sixth, forcing Usyk to the ropes. Once again, however, the champion showed his class by going out without a hitch and hitting Joshua from a variety of angles.
The seventh and eighth rounds were largely even and then came the ninth when Joshua burst into life, fully using his superior size and power to shake the man in front of him. It looked like a surprise victory was in the offing, but then Usyk did what he does best: take command of a fight through a combination of sublime technique and ferocious power. In the end, his victory was beyond doubt, something Joshua, in the most singular fashion, also had to accept.