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Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk first met inside the ring on 25 September 2021. The pair filled the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on the occasion, with over 60,000 seats getting sold out in less than 24 hours.
The Brit was the champion of the heavyweight division as he held the WBA, WBO, IBF and IBO titles but the home crowd was in for a shocking surprise, as Joshua lost the bout and all his titles to the Ukrainian.
'The Cat' dominated the former two-time champion, almost finishing him in the dying moments of the fight. The judges scored the bout 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113 all in favor of Usyk.
In the rematch o August 20, Anthony Joshua will have to deploy a new gameplan if he hopes to regain championship status.
The former cruiserweight significantly outclassed his opponents, landing 148 punches compared to Joshua’s 123. Furthermore, 96 of Usyk's shots were power punches. Usyk found more success with his jabs too, with a 16.8% landing rate. Joshua scored 12.2% of his jabs thrown.
Joshua's most active rounds were the eighth and tenth of the fight. The Brit landed 19 out of his 67 shots in the eighth round, giving him a 28.4% success rate. In the tenth round, he landed 18 out of his 63 punches, firing at a clip of 28.6%.
Usyk was much more active throughout the fight, even when not throwing punches. The former cruiserweight was constantly manipulating his footwork and head movement to control the distance and avoid heavy shots.
The challenger found most of his success in the seventh and twelfth rounds. He secured a 43.4% landing rate in the seventh round after landing 23 out of 53 of his shots. He then had an even more impressive final round, where he landed 29 of 68 punches.
Oleksandr Usyk is preparing well for the upcoming bout in Jeddah:
Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua 2 - A closer look
When the pair first met, Anthony Joshua weighed in with a 20lbs weight advantage over the Ukrainian. He looks to be gaining even more mass for the rematch.
Oleksandr Usyk will be entering the rematch as a two-weight world champion following his previous reign in the cruiserweight division. He was the undisputed champion in his previous weight class and is now looking to replicate his cruiserweight sucess at heavyweight.
Joshua, on the other hand, is a natural heavyweight who is a former two-time heavyweight world champion. Joshua also won a gold medal at the 2012 Olympics when he was only 22-years-old. The heavyweight first entered a boxing gym when he was 18.
The Ukrainian holds an unbeaten record of 19-0 with 13 of his victories coming via knockout, which gives him a knockout percentage of 68.42%. 'AJ', however, has suffered two defeats in his career and holds a record of 24-2. The Brit has an impressive knockout rate of 84.62% due to his 22 knockout wins.
It remains to be seen who emerges the victor in a fighter being billed as 'Rage on the Red Sea.'
Watch Anthony Joshua vs. Oleksandr Usyk 1 here:
