Is it wrong that I laughed out loud after Oleksandr Usyk had his hand raised Saturday afternoon at London's Tottenham Stadium? Is it “hating” when I chuckled smugly as it became apparent that defending 3-belt heavyweight titlist Anthony Joshua had no answers for what the former unified cruiserweight champ was showing him?
I guess I’m just a hater.
But, honestly, it’s been hard NOT being a hater when it comes to Joshua.
The guy had been pushed down our throats as a new breed boxing superstar and billion dollar asset before he had turned in one single elite-level, superstardom-worthy performance. And, since crammed into our collective unconscious as an elite, he’s delivered precisely one elite-level, superstardom-worthy performance against an opponent with half a chance of beating him-- and that was way back in 2017, against Wladimir Klitschko.
Since the Klitschko fight, it’s all been about business with “AJ.” He’s looked more like a fighter trying to hold on to a lucrative fighting gig than one trying to get better, improve his skill set, and build a legacy.
Back in June of 2019, when Andy Ruiz stopped him in a shocker at Madison Square Garden, I wrote this about Joshua:
“Since the money started rolling in, there’s pretty much been only money talk, very little boxing talk. Saturday, Joshua certainly fought like someone who had spent more time in camp counting stacks of cash and tallying stock projections than working on strategy or cardio.”
That assessment still applies. And, man, did it apply against Usyk on Saturday.
In my predictions for this fight, I mistakenly assumed that Joshua would do the right things to take advantage of his strengths and nullify his opponent’s strengths. But Joshua had no idea how to fight a guy like Usyk who was doing the things Usyk was doing. He was baffled by the slightest angles, bewildered by speed, and frozen by the threat of angles and speed. It was as if he hadn’t actually prepared at all for what he had to know was coming.
All in all, it was an appropriately stifled performance from a guy who became a star before he could become a complete fighter and who, once he could sell out a soccer stadium, just stopped trying to be that complete fighter altogether. I’d say that Joshua was exposed, but that would imply that some of us hadn’t noticed him still being very much less than the sum of his parts as a fighter.
In an interview after the fight, Joshua was asked about why he was so sure he could turn things around in the contractually mandated rematch. With a straight face and zero sense of self-awareness he told the reporter that he felt he could do it because he was “a quick learner.” When pressed by another reporter about what, specifically, he had learned from this learning experience, he got a blank look on his face and sputtered out this nonsense: “it's good to go the twelve rounds...there's always that question around the stamina.”
Clearly, he didn’t learn a damn thing and, also clearly, he didn’t invest any energy or brain power during camp into putting together a strategy to beat Usyk. There was no mystery in what Usyk was going to do and no mystery in what he had to do to neutralize Usyk’s plans. He just didn’t bother to do anything. This wasn’t a matter of him trying to employ a proper strategy and simply being out-executed. Joshua had no plan and employed no strategy.
I think, at this point, it’s pretty safe to say that Joshua is never going to become a true elite. He will continue to have the raw tools for massive success and his marketability in the UK will keep garnering him opportunities for redemption-- and he may pull off some redemptive performances here and there-- but he doesn’t have “it” and will never have “it.” His mind isn’t sharp enough and/or his hunger isn’t great enough. Unless something really clicks inside him, he’ll live out the rest of his career as a mega-impressive Sherman tank with a novice, unfocused, fairly indifferent driver at the helm.
As for Usyk, well, he did what he had to do to get the win. Lots of people are going way overboard in praising his performance and I can see why there would be this outpouring of admiration and acclaim. Winning three heavyweight belts is a big deal and besting the guy who was heavily favored to beat you down is always going to make your achievement bigger than big. And, well, he did execute at an elite level against an opponent who could’ve ripped his head off at any moment. It was a very good, focused, tenacious performance. But, honestly, he should’ve been able to take Joshua out and close the show with a bang. The true greats do that. They don’t let guys like Joshua, confused into indifference, hang around to see the closing bell. But that’s nitpicking on my part. Usyk deserves full credit for what he did.
And, no, this wasn’t a “star-making” performance by Usyk. If boxing were a “real” sport with a real base that valued the sport for the sport itself, yeah, it would’ve been. But boxing isn’t like any other mainstream sport.
Usyk is a while away from being a star-level draw. He’ll need to beat Joshua in a high-profile rematch, beat either Deontay Wilder or Tyson Fury in another high-profile bout, and maybe a Dillian Whyte or an Andy Ruiz before we can even start talking about star-level drawing power. And, even then, there’s no guarantee that he’ll be anything more than an excellent fighter who gets tons of respect from the hardcore boxing fans, but barely moves the needle when it comes to attracting mainstream attention. Boxing stardom isn’t a meritocracy; it’s a popularity contest.
For now, all we know is that Anthony Joshua has been knocked off his pedestal, Oleksandr Usyk takes control of the IBF/WBA/WBO belts, and Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua, the biggest fight in UK history and maybe the biggest fight in all of boxing, is dead (at least for a good, long while).
I’m not going to lie, the anarchist in me loves this chaos.
Got something for Magno? Send it here: paulmagno@theboxingtribune.com