On August 20, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), the current and former unified heavyweight champions – Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and Briton Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) will meet in a rematch. Their first face-to-face fight took place in September in London (England) – Usyk won by decision of the judges.
British legend Carl Froch does not believe in the chances of a compatriot.
Explains, what exactly is missing: “It will be very difficult. I would like to think otherwise. Moreover, Joshua has all the cards in his hands in the form of a physical advantage. But the problem is mentality. And I’m not sure that Joshua has it right. Yeah, I don’t know for sure because I haven’t been to his training camp. And I don’t know what he looks like in sparring. I don’t know how his conversations with a psychologist go, if there is such a person in his team.
“Why am I talking about sparring? Froch continues. Because everything is immediately clear. You can see how the fighter feels, how confident he is in his abilities. He wasn’t confident in his rematch with Andy Ruiz. It was for this reason that he did not fight, but wound circles around the perimeter of the ring. Then there was a so-so victory over Kubrat Pulev and a defeat for Usyk. And since the loss to Ruiz, I have not seen anything in Joshua that would allow him to knock out Usyk or a dude of the level of Usyk. This is not exactly a criticism of Joshua. Usyk is really good. Just look at his amateur resume, his career as a pro, his Super Series win that saw him beat previously undefeated champions. Such as Murat Gassiev and Mairis Briedis.”
Froch suggests that Usyk deliberately fought a less than outstanding fight against British gatekeeper Derek Chisora: “As for me, he spent it in second gear. He was very smart in that fight. He made everyone believe that he was not a heavyweight, that he was too small, that he was not good enough to fight Joshua. He even fought against Anthony no higher than in third gear. And only in the last round he showed everything to everyone. Does Joshua stand a chance? What will happen in the rematch? I don’t think Joshua will win. He should have beaten him, but he will not be able to because of psychological problems. And if nothing drastically changed during the training camp, then he is such an obvious underdog.
Usyk is preparing hard for revenge. His sparring partner admires the “evil” Alexander. Says Joshua is in trouble. Have you seen a photo of Usyk in the pool? Swim like a shark, pity like a bumblebee.
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