Oleksandr Usyk vs. Anthony Joshua II Preview, Odds, Prediction

Oleksandr Usyk will defend his heavyweight belts against Anthony Joshua this Saturday. The two met last September, when Usyk took away Joshua’s belts. For the moment, the Ukrainian is a slight favorite, but one punch can erase that edge. Usyk has another motive in this battle: the situation back at his home. Joshua, too, has a reason: to redeem for the loss in the previous event and become one of few three-time heavyweight champs.

Preview

Oleksandr Usyk (-200) was one of the most dominant cruiserweight boxers of all time. He would then decide to move up and attack the heavyweight title and show his enormous talent. And the inevitable happened – he became the champion. Usyk took four belts from Joshua WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO, making an immediate impact in the division.

He debuted against Chazz Witherspoon, whom he obliterated in seven rounds, before taking on Derek Chisora in the fight for the WBO Inter-Continental title. Usyk won that one by a unanimous decision. That is how he became a mandatory challenger and got the right to fight with AJ.

In his pro career, Usyk had 19 fights and 19 wins, 13 of them via KO. He is also the 2012 Olympic champion and has several other continental and world gold medals. Extremely fast and endure, Usyk is a problem for the entire boxing world. He is tactically impeccable and, what is even more important, very smart inside the ring.

Anthony Joshua (+150) was the two-time heavyweight champion and wants to regain his throne again. The Brit apparently changed his training methods before this battle, allegedly cutting some of his weight and implementing new elements in his style. Even though he has a significant reach advantage, AJ couldn’t utilize it in the first battle.

The reason for that is his endurance, as he became much slower as time passed, allowing Usyk to use hit-and-run tactics often without punishment. Also, Joshua didn’t have the solution for Usyk’s fast jab, again sad, despite his reach advantage.

Joshua is one of the most powerful heavyweights in history, with an extremely athletic frame and piles of muscle. Yet, in this particular situation, that has been a problem for the Brit whose cardio simply couldn’t keep up with Usyk’s tempo.

Head to Head

Back in September 2021, Usyk schooled Joshua throughout 12 rounds, teaching him some moves the Brit had never seen before. Apart from the middle rounds when Joshua had a few bursts, it was all about Usyk in that one, with his straight left and fantastic movement.

Joshua was wobbly on a couple of occasions, while the Ukrainian never showed any signs of struggle.

Also, we want to mention that AJ had help, in the end, avoiding a KO because the bell went seven seconds before the actual end.

Prediction

We can’t pick anything else here but Usyk’s victory because the Ukrainian is a much more versatile fighter than Joshua, who relies upon his physics too much. Usyk will adapt to the new circumstances, that is for sure, unlike AJ, who is always one-dimensional.

Pick: Usyk wins -200