LONDON: British boxer of Nigerian descent Anthony Joshua lost his heavyweight title belts to Oleksandr Usyk by unanimous decision at the new Tottenham Stadium on Saturday.
Joshua was outclassed for most of the fight by Usyk, who is now the IBF, WBA and WBO champion.
Usyk was fast all night, which caused a lot of problems for Joshua. In the opening round, the Ukrainian twice touched the Brit with his fast left hand. Usyk's speed and movement were mesmerising in the opening rounds, and he constantly touched Joshua.
In the third round, Usyk hurt Joshua as the Brit's leg started to dip. Joshua did put up some spirited performance and landed his first clear punch in the fifth round. Towards the end of the round, he found another right hand.
In the sixth, Usyk was forced to his back foot as Joshua landed a solid right hand, giving his opponent a black eye and red face. Any hope that would be the turning point of the bout quickly vanished as Usyk shot back with venom.
He caught Joshua with a left hand in an interesting seventh round which sent Joshua staggering backwards.
Joshua stood his ground, but Usyk caught him again with his left hand.
Joshua responded in the eighth and landed several body punches, and it looked like Uysk was rocked.
By the 10th round, both fighters had substantial wounds - Usyk had a cut in his eye with blood gushing out while Joshua's right eye was badly swollen.
Usyk took over again in the 11th round with some fast movement and threw Joshua off-balance with some shots. Joshua managed to fight back and managed to maintain his balance as Usyk threw more punches.
In the 12th, Usyk continued his onslaught, although Joshua desperately survived on the ropes. In the end, it was clear who the winner was. The judges had no doubt and gave the win to Usyk.
The 34-year-old came into the fight as the undisputed cruiserweight champion and became only the third boxer (after Evander Holyfield and David Haye) to win world titles at cruiserweight and heavyweight. This is the second defeat of Joshua's career after his 2019 loss to Andy Ruiz Jr. He is now in the danger of not getting the opportunity for that mega-fight against fellow Brit Tyson Fury. Agencies
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