Predictions and thoughts?
Anyone watching on an app or streaming service?

Unless AJ is doing some rope a dope misdirection, what I’ve saw from him in training and open workouts doesn’t fill me with optimism.

He’s also very light at the weigh in.

Usyk by points by some margin

Yup, my money would be on Usyk .

He’s also very light at the weigh in.

Eh? He’s heavier than last time… which IMO only makes sense if he goes for the KO inside 6-7 rounds. If he’s made to stick around much longer then it’ll probably be Usyk on points or possibly a KO. Would like to see Joshua win simply to see him take on Fury.

Usyk – 8th round knockout.

Would like to see Joshua win simply to see him take on Fury.

This, but Usyk will win. A man coming off the Ukrainian front line whose prepared to go deep for his country and was better than AJ last time is going to be very tough to beat.

I predict Usyk will grab his forehead tail and pound him over the ropes to then Joshy boi falling over by way of a kiss blown in his direction.

AJ always has a punchers chance, his problem is if he thinks he can outbox technically better boxers like Usyk.

As always, the longer the fight goes on, the more chance AJ will lose on points or a late KO, Usyk needs to avoid any heavy stuff in the first 3 or 4 rounds, which he’s a master at, as others say, AJ really has to show something in this fight or his career is pretty much going back to fighting Chisora!

Personally, i’d love to see Fury vs Usyk, think that fight could be a cracker, and both those guys can sell a fight and do a good bit of banter for it, AJ is a bit of a dead fish in terms of the press stuff and so on.

Usyk brought the rights of the fight to make it free to air in Ukraine makes him a winner in my book.

Usyk to make Joshua look even more like Frank Bruno’s lovechild.

This fight is a bit uncomfortable for me.

Joshua seems to be a perfectly sound lad – I value a quiet sportsman who wants the sport do the talking.

Usyk being Ukrainian – given the global situation if there was any nation that needs a hero right now, it’s Ukraine – so him winning would seem the best outcome. But….kind of feel a bit weird about him leaving his nation to pursue his personal career. I can only presume Zelenskyy felt there was more morale to be gained by having him leave the country to do this (and win) than stay and fight. I just hope the other Ukrainian men not given that option feel the same.

Then there is the venue- there is not a lot of class in that choice. No idea who instigated that choice, but it shows remarkably few principles (or understanding maybe). Not the only sport to make this poor choice obviously but that does not make it right.

I’d love to see AJ win and set up a showdown with Fury but I suspect Usyk is going to outclass him again. Plus there was plenty of opportunity for Fury/AJ before the Usyk fight, they just didn’t seem to want to make it happen. If we get a version of AJ like his younger and nastier self (there was some real venom in some of his early KO’s) it’ll be a great fight.  Usyk is a brilliant and better boxer though, a fight between him and Fury would be quite something.

Usyk within 6 rounds.

Usyk to make Joshua look even more like Frank Bruno’s lovechild.

I can’t believe I thought Joshua would ever beat fury. Although to be fair, back in the day I thought David Price would have beaten him so I clearly no nothing..

I know nothing at all about boxing, so my pinstickers bet is AJ to knock him out within 3. Everyone loves a trilogy payday! 😉
RM.

The only thing that makes me think AJ can win is that he was terrible in the first fight and hardly landed anything but Usyk’s face looked battered. If AJ lands a few more decent shots early and gains confidence Usyk could be in trouble.

Otherwise it’ll be like the first fight with Usyk landing decent shots and AJ zoning out.

Then there is the venue- there is not a lot of class in that choice. No idea who instigated that choice, but it shows remarkably few principles (or understanding maybe). Not the only sport to make this poor choice obviously but that does not make it right.

Money and sports washing. That’s all it is. AJ tries to paint a different picture but he knows he can’t say the truth.

I detest everyone involved in putting on these events in that part of the world. It’s probably the main reason I’ll give this fight a miss. Something very wrong about the whole thing.

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Outstanding contest, no knockout as predicted by me but Usyk is very good. Well done AJ.

Utter bellend, you didn’t win; put the fight down you knob.

Not quite sure where this is going right now

Bit embarrassing

Ok, I know nothing about boxing so why are the commentators on Talk Sport banging on about Joshua? From what I could gather from the commentary the other dude was better.

My theory, and as mad as this is, I think this is all manipulation by the media to keep Joshua relevant

Well he let the media savvy mask slip abit there didn’t he..

Hopefully now we can have Usyk vs Fury, AJ is going to be emotional, he’s just moved away from being the top tier of heavyweight, where he’s been for years, to the group vying for championship fights, he’s now lost 3 of his last 4 fights and has gone from potentially being the best British boxer to being on a similar level to many others.

As for the media mask, he’s always had that fake nice guy persona, but it has been slipping ever since he lost to Ruiz Jr, must say i prefer boxers who are just themselves most of the time, rather than having an act to better gain sponsorships and so on.

Wilder as a next opponent for AJ?

I think AJ v Wilder would be a great match up. No belts on the line, but its a winner take all scenario. The winner is back in the mix with the other contenders, but hard to see the loser getting another shot. It would be a must win if either had any desire to fight for one of the main titles again.
Joe Joyce would be interesting. Maybe a little too early for Joe though.
If Fury Usyk ever does happen it will be at least 2 fights maybe a trilogy, by which time its hard to see either continuing. It likely AJ will be 3 times champ at some point, but only after the other two have called it a day.

Wilder as a next opponent for AJ?

AJ Vs Wilder should be an interesting fight because this fight will have very limited movement. If this fight happens I predict a win for Wilder with KO within 8 rounds. AJ will go into retirement after that. Same prediction for AJ vs Fury, with a KO win for Fury.

As for Fury vs Usyk that will be a fight with Fury chasing Usyk in the ring and Usyk will be using his good body punch, but unlike AJ it is not that easy to “pin” down Fury as he is fast. If this fight happens I predict a split decision win for Fury because they will be running circle in the rings chasing each others. It will be a boring fight with big pay cheque.

Ignore my post above as got boxers mixed up.

AJ seems and is I believe a real nice down to earth man.

Props to him and his post fight attitude on reflecting.

👍

Really like Usyk but give him very little chance against Fury. Fury is big and a great boxer.

Enjoyed it. Although AJ did better this time around, it was a similar outcome, what I took from it was:
– Usyk has a strong chín
– Usyk is extremely fit with incredible stamina, which means he can fight with the same intensity in the later rounds as the earlier ones.
– AJ is not as good a boxer as Usyk (Usyk’s head movement was incredible)
– Usyk’s work ethic in the ring and his pacing and strategy are spot on.
– AJ started out too slow and if his performance in the 9th round was maybe in the 3rd then you might have a different outcome.
– His after fight speech and post fight interviews were a bit cringy (although I admire his honesty).

Fury vs Usyk would make a tantalizing fight but maybe not the most exciting.

There’s a fair few decent looking heavy weight fights this year which should be fun.

Wilder has a fight scheduled this year so an AJ Wilder fight could be early 2023.

I’d watch another AJ Whyte fight with the winner fighting Wilder (as long as he wins his fight this year)

Fury Usyk December this year with the winner fighting the winner of the Wilder/Whyte/AJ fights.

That’s what I’d like.

– AJ started out too slow and if his performance in the 9th round was maybe in the 3rd then you might have a different outcome.

Strange wasn’t it – everything AJ said in the build up was that he was a knockout artist. He realised he needed to get back to that mentality and he was going to attack Usyk from the get go and not give him a chance to outbox him. Well, in theory that sounded great. Ready for an exciting fight where AJ puts the pressure on and batters Usyk.. ah, but AJ just thinks too much in the ring. He was trying to work out a way to get past Usyk’s boxing and instead of attacking, using his size and power to wreck his opponent, he stood there and mostly got outboxed again. Only when Usyk was tiring did AJ make some decent attacks and get close to hurting him. Shame really. Doesn’t look like Usyk is easy to KO, but you gotta smack him on the chin a fair few times to find out!

Fury would have Usyk in an ugly, boring fight. Jab from a distance and then constantly lean his whole body weight on him and maul up close til he tired.

Joshua needed to do a Fury (vs Wilder 2 ) vs Usyk, make his size count and rough him up.

Ever since the Ruiz (1st) fight Joshua has been shy about unloading as he doesn’t trust his chin any more. Can’t blame him, I wouldn’t want to be hit in the face either. But to win on Saturday he needed to eat a few in order to dish a few out, and he doesn’t seem willing to do that any more.

If I was AJ, I’d retire with my millions. He’d outbox Wilder for a few rounds til Wilder landed something big, and then it’d be game over. And there’s no chance he outboxes Fury.

The only other fights are the Joyces/Whytes/Chisoras/Dubois etc which he’d probably win, but with very little reward for the risk of losing and tumbling further down the rankings.

Can’t disagree with any of that!

Yeah, Dubois is off the back of a loss to Joyce, Joyce is a 36 year old who’s not really done much and Chisora and Whyte tend to be the gateway to the upper tier in boxing, but he’s done that already. Joyce is up against Parker next anyway, and it just seems the heavyweight division is awash with generic fights and journeymen, i think Wilder is the only real fight that’ll sell for AJ next, someone he hasn’t faced and someone who can be measured against Fury, everything else is just more of the same.