[ BOXING POLL ADDED ] The Rematch - JOSHUA vs USYK II (updated thread)

[TopTort777]

Yep, Joshua can still win the fight because of his height/reach and longer experience in the heavyweight class. Usyk is a solid technical boxer with southpaw advantage since a southpaw boxer faces more orthodox boxers in his career. We can see how AJ looked confused in their first match. However, if AJ can mimic Fury's strategy, he can win it. He just need to put a lot of weight, and power. Don't go technical against Usyk, but go head on full YOLO. He is bigger than Usyk who was a cruiserweight boxer.

Extra weight was the reason AJ was slow against Andy Ruiz and lost via TKO. Heavy, powerful but slow AJ will be the easiest target for Usyks punches. During the fight AJ did not make series of punches often. Being heavy will make him throw 1-2 combinations maximum, because series will make his stamina go down quickly. We all know that Usyk likes to throw a lot of punches. Where one make 2-4 punches, Usyk throw 10 minimum. In their first fight Usyk connected almost 20% more punches. Heavy and slow AJ will be a perfect target.

If AJ gains weight for power, the fight will end with UD but with even more points advantage by Usyk. Maybe doing opposite will be the key. Maybe loosing weight and have it identical to Usyk will do the trick. Speed vs Speed.

[KTChampions]

Yep, Joshua can still win the fight because of his height/reach and longer experience in the heavyweight class. Usyk is a solid technical boxer with southpaw advantage since a southpaw boxer faces more orthodox boxers in his career. We can see how AJ looked confused in their first match. However, if AJ can mimic Fury's strategy, he can win it. He just need to put a lot of weight, and power. Don't go technical against Usyk, but go head on full YOLO. He is bigger than Usyk who was a cruiserweight boxer.

  Your sentence sounds like "hey buddy, just mimic the Carlsen/Ronaldo strategy and be a great chess/soccer player." At such a high level, where every nuance matters, this is simply unrealistic. Joshua has a different physical condition than Fury and he cannot transform into him.  Even in the first match, against the background of Usik, he looked like a very slow boxer, what will happen if he gains extra weight? I think that on the contrary, he should lose weight a little and focus on increasing speed - perhaps this will allow him to realize his advantage in strength. Otherwise, Usyk again simply outboxes him in smart boxing.

[taguig]

If AJ gains weight for power, the fight will end with UD but with even more points advantage by Usyk. Maybe doing opposite will be the key. Maybe loosing weight and have it identical to Usyk will do the trick. Speed vs Speed.

In boxing, you cannot beat what you cannot hit that's what happens to Joshua he has power he always has but unfortunately, he can not hit the target because Usyk is good at bobbing and weaving and good in counter punching he has to cut weight but be dominant just like he did to Ruiz, even Ruiz was surprised that he did not impose himself on Usyk.

[stadus]

If AJ gains weight for power, the fight will end with UD but with even more points advantage by Usyk. Maybe doing opposite will be the key. Maybe loosing weight and have it identical to Usyk will do the trick. Speed vs Speed.

In boxing, you cannot beat what you cannot hit that's what happens to Joshua he has power he always has but unfortunately, he can not hit the target because Usyk is good at bobbing and weaving and good in counter punching he has to cut weight but be dominant just like he did to Ruiz, even Ruiz was surprised that he did not impose himself on Usyk.

Let's just say that's game 1, we still have game 2 and if AJ would do the same on what he did to Ruiz in a rematch, then most likely he would be able to redeem himself. AJ would try to win this as this rematch is his ticket to a big fight against Fury and both fighters really have the charisma to attract a huge number of fans.

[yazher]

Joshua has been known for come back after a devastating defeat and that makes this JOSHUA vs USYK II exciting as when he fought against Ruiz for the second time. Their strategy works to beat Ruiz and if they can execute the same working strategy then he can easily regain back and might have the chance to fight Fury in his next match.

[mu_enrico]

Extra weight was the reason AJ was slow against Andy Ruiz and lost via TKO.

No, because he tried to fight a close combat with pure in-boxer/in-fighter breed while he has the advantage of reach/height and speed.

If AJ gains weight for power, the fight will end with UD but with even more points advantage by Usyk. Maybe doing opposite will be the key. Maybe loosing weight and have it identical to Usyk will do the trick. Speed vs Speed.

It's not that AJ is slower than Usyk, it's just he cannot fight a southpaw boxer the same way as he fights an orthodox boxer. The tempo, the feel, the angle, everything is so messed up. He cannot get used to fighting a southpaw boxer in just a few months, so better gamble would be going for in-fight against Usyk.

Your sentence sounds like "hey buddy, just mimic the Carlsen/Ronaldo strategy and be a great chess/soccer player." At such a high level, where every nuance matters, this is simply unrealistic. Joshua has a different physical condition than Fury and he cannot transform into him.

It was a deeply calculated idea from a former "boxing manager" player who wasted countless hours playing, lol.

Even in the first match, against the background of Usik, he looked like a very slow boxer, what will happen if he gains extra weight? I think that on the contrary, he should lose weight a little and focus on increasing speed - perhaps this will allow him to realize his advantage in strength. Otherwise, Usyk again simply outboxes him in smart boxing.

Again, this is the view of ordinary boxing fan, "the speed," as if AJ was slower. No matter how much weight AJ loses in these few months, his punch won't land if he cannot deal with southpaw style. Why not just rush in-fight with his bigger and more powerful build?

[KTChampions]

Your sentence sounds like "hey buddy, just mimic the Carlsen/Ronaldo strategy and be a great chess/soccer player." At such a high level, where every nuance matters, this is simply unrealistic. Joshua has a different physical condition than Fury and he cannot transform into him.

It was a deeply calculated idea from a former "boxing manager" player who wasted countless hours playing, lol.

Okay, now I understand you  I hope that the managers of Joshua and Usyk are less informed, otherwise we risk seeing two sumo wrestlers in the upcoming duel 

Even in the first match, against the background of Usik, he looked like a very slow boxer, what will happen if he gains extra weight? I think that on the contrary, he should lose weight a little and focus on increasing speed - perhaps this will allow him to realize his advantage in strength. Otherwise, Usyk again simply outboxes him in smart boxing.

Again, this is the view of ordinary boxing fan, "the speed," as if AJ was slower. No matter how much weight AJ loses in these few months, his punch won't land if he cannot deal with southpaw style. Why not just rush in-fight with his bigger and more powerful build?

I think one reason is enough - Joshua does not have an iron chin (and some in the world of boxing even call his chin crystal). It's heavyweight box - you just miss one hit and you're out of the game, so rush is a double-edged move, although of course, with Joshua's physical superiority in mind, it makes sense. By the way, this move is also dangerous because if in the first rounds you did not achieve a quick result, then you find yourself in a worse position, since you spent more energy and further prospects look doubtful. It's kind of all-in.

[Jackl87]

Joshua has been known for come back after a devastating defeat and that makes this JOSHUA vs USYK II exciting as when he fought against Ruiz for the second time. Their strategy works to beat Ruiz and if they can execute the same working strategy then he can easily regain back and might have the chance to fight Fury in his next match.

I think you can not really compare the fights and also the rematches of Joshua vs Ruiz and now Usyk. Back then it was a huge surprise that ruiz managed to win against Joshua and even managed to knock him down 3 times. Then in the second fight Joshua dominated Ruiz and won his title back in a relatively convincing way. If you look at Joshuas fight vs Usyk then the experts and also the fans were by far not so convinced that Joshua was the big favorite again here. This was mainly because Joshua lost his nimbus of being undefeated against Ruiz and of course also because Usyk is a much better boxer in comparison to Ruiz.
So i don't see Joshua as the big favorite against Usyk in their rematch.

[South Park]

Good news, except for the realization that the fight will take place in about half a year and if everything goes according to plan and there are no force majeure circumstances.
Of course, it's a shame that organizing fights takes so long. Specifically now, this is important because if you take into account this fight, then Fury's fight with the winner of this pair, then at least a year will pass. Given the fact that Wilder is no longer young, it is possible that he simply will not have time to get back into business and fight with any of this trio.

I think this is a dilatory tactic by Joshua, he needs time to recover and to improve and this cannot be done so quickly so he is probably going to try to push the fight as far away as possible and if he has to use his promoter to buy him some time I have no doubts that he will do so, after all Usyk so completely dominated the fight that Joshua needs to focus on one of two possible options which are the complete opposite of each other, the first one is to try to outbox Usyk and the second is to gain more weight and try to KO him and neither path seems easy to me.

[TimeTeller]

Joshua has been known for come back after a devastating defeat and that makes this JOSHUA vs USYK II exciting as when he fought against Ruiz for the second time. Their strategy works to beat Ruiz and if they can execute the same working strategy then he can easily regain back and might have the chance to fight Fury in his next match.

I think you can not really compare the fights and also the rematches of Joshua vs Ruiz and now Usyk. Back then it was a huge surprise that ruiz managed to win against Joshua and even managed to knock him down 3 times. Then in the second fight Joshua dominated Ruiz and won his title back in a relatively convincing way. If you look at Joshuas fight vs Usyk then the experts and also the fans were by far not so convinced that Joshua was the big favorite again here. This was mainly because Joshua lost his nimbus of being undefeated against Ruiz and of course also because Usyk is a much better boxer in comparison to Ruiz.
So i don't see Joshua as the big favorite against Usyk in their rematch.

The results of the poll now reverses. People are now rooting for Usyk this time. 
This is no surprise as we have witnessed their first match.
Definitely, the odds will favor on Usyk on this re-match. But curious what will be the gap of odds.
Can Joshua redeem himself? In my opinion, Usyk will still emerge as winner here.

[Welsh]

It's not that AJ is slower than Usyk, it's just he cannot fight a southpaw boxer the same way as he fights an orthodox boxer. The tempo, the feel, the angle, everything is so messed up. He cannot get used to fighting a southpaw boxer in just a few months, so better gamble would be going for in-fight against Usyk.

Maybe not slower, but definitely less agile. I think that's the biggest issue here, and the fact that Joshua seems a little more gun shy since the Andy Ruiz fight. Until Joshua can either counter those problems, or make improvements on those fronts then I can't see him winning the rematch, and it's looking increasingly likely that it'll be a Fury vs Usyk unification fight, which to be honest I think is a good match up. Although, I'd like to see Fury win that, and then move onto Joshua just to prove he's the best of the current heavyweight fighters.

[Kemarit]

It's not that AJ is slower than Usyk, it's just he cannot fight a southpaw boxer the same way as he fights an orthodox boxer. The tempo, the feel, the angle, everything is so messed up. He cannot get used to fighting a southpaw boxer in just a few months, so better gamble would be going for in-fight against Usyk.

Maybe not slower, but definitely less agile. I think that's the biggest issue here, and the fact that Joshua seems a little more gun shy since the Andy Ruiz fight. Until Joshua can either counter those problems, or make improvements on those fronts then I can't see him winning the rematch, and it's looking increasingly likely that it'll be a Fury vs Usyk unification fight, which to be honest I think is a good match up. Although, I'd like to see Fury win that, and then move onto Joshua just to prove he's the best of the current heavyweight fighters.

He wasn't gun shy on the Pulev fight and he won via KO if I'm not mistaken.

But in the Usyk fight, it seems that we witnessed a different version of Joshua here, maybe it was the style match-up, maybe he has ring rust, overtrain or underestimate Usyk etc, etc.. He usually dominated small fighters except in the Ruiz fight. Even in the second fight, he adjusted and regain back his confidence. So I doubt that he is still affected by the first lost against Ruiz.

[Fundamentals Of]

The winds have changed now. In the first poll, only 30% thought the undefeated Usyk would prevail over Joshua. But now that Joshua has been convincingly defeated by Usyk although only by unanimous decision, 81% believe Usyk would still come out the winner in their rematch come spring of 2022.

I'm still giving Joshua a chance in their upcoming rematch. He was able to avenge his loss to Ruiz. He could also avenge this loss. But I don't think Joshua will win against Usyk by unanimous decision. Usyk has more punches to offer. Usyk is more accurate as well.

[KTChampions]

Good news, except for the realization that the fight will take place in about half a year and if everything goes according to plan and there are no force majeure circumstances.
Of course, it's a shame that organizing fights takes so long. Specifically now, this is important because if you take into account this fight, then Fury's fight with the winner of this pair, then at least a year will pass. Given the fact that Wilder is no longer young, it is possible that he simply will not have time to get back into business and fight with any of this trio.

I think this is a dilatory tactic by Joshua, he needs time to recover and to improve and this cannot be done so quickly so he is probably going to try to push the fight as far away as possible and if he has to use his promoter to buy him some time I have no doubts that he will do so, after all Usyk so completely dominated the fight that Joshua needs to focus on one of two possible options which are the complete opposite of each other, the first one is to try to outbox Usyk and the second is to gain more weight and try to KO him and neither path seems easy to me.

Unfortunately, this is not a dilatory tactic from Joshua, but a usual thing for boxing - top fights are organized for a very long time and I must say that this one (if it takes place within the specified timeframe) will be held rather quickly. And as I wrote above, weight gain will not help Joshua, but only harm him. He must lose weight and gain speed.

The winds have changed now. In the first poll, only 30% thought the undefeated Usyk would prevail over Joshua. But now that Joshua has been convincingly defeated by Usyk although only by unanimous decision, 81% believe Usyk would still come out the winner in their rematch come spring of 2022.

I'm still giving Joshua a chance in their upcoming rematch. He was able to avenge his loss to Ruiz. He could also avenge this loss. But I don't think Joshua will win against Usyk by unanimous decision. Usyk has more punches to offer. Usyk is more accurate as well.

It’s too early to talk about the results as too few people voted - 11 people. Maybe Joshua's fans will cheer up and fix the vote, which now looks very one-sided.

[eaLiTy]

~
I'm still giving Joshua a chance in their upcoming rematch. He was able to avenge his loss to Ruiz. He could also avenge this loss. But I don't think Joshua will win against Usyk by unanimous decision. Usyk has more punches to offer. Usyk is more accurate as well.

I do accept that Joshua was able to win a decision over Andy Ruiz in the rematch but you need to look at the way in which Andy Ruiz was preparing for the rematch. He was not training properly after becoming an overnight sensation and money changes people and i bet he was not really prepared physically and mentally for the rematch but i think Usyk will be fully prepared when they fights again.

[Fundamentals Of]

~
I'm still giving Joshua a chance in their upcoming rematch. He was able to avenge his loss to Ruiz. He could also avenge this loss. But I don't think Joshua will win against Usyk by unanimous decision. Usyk has more punches to offer. Usyk is more accurate as well.

I do accept that Joshua was able to win a decision over Andy Ruiz in the rematch but you need to look at the way in which Andy Ruiz was preparing for the rematch. He was not training properly after becoming an overnight sensation and money changes people and i bet he was not really prepared physically and mentally for the rematch but i think Usyk will be fully prepared when they fights again.

I understand your opinion. Andy Ruiz might have really underestimated Anthony Joshua the second time they met in the ring. He might have also faced Joshua in a bad shape. But all this is now water under the bridge. Whatever the reason is, Anthony Joshua came out the winner and he avenged his only loss at that time. Let's give him credit for that. He must have learned his opponent's ways and came out executing his camp's plan. All I'm saying is that this is also possible against Usyk. They will definitely study Usky's fighting style in their first match.

[TravelMug]

~
I'm still giving Joshua a chance in their upcoming rematch. He was able to avenge his loss to Ruiz. He could also avenge this loss. But I don't think Joshua will win against Usyk by unanimous decision. Usyk has more punches to offer. Usyk is more accurate as well.

I do accept that Joshua was able to win a decision over Andy Ruiz in the rematch but you need to look at the way in which Andy Ruiz was preparing for the rematch. He was not training properly after becoming an overnight sensation and money changes people and i bet he was not really prepared physically and mentally for the rematch but i think Usyk will be fully prepared when they fights again.

I understand your opinion. Andy Ruiz might have really underestimated Anthony Joshua the second time they met in the ring. He might have also faced Joshua in a bad shape. But all this is now water under the bridge. Whatever the reason is, Anthony Joshua came out the winner and he avenged his only loss at that time. Let's give him credit for that. He must have learned his opponent's ways and came out executing his camp's plan. All I'm saying is that this is also possible against Usyk. They will definitely study Usky's fighting style in their first match.

It's possible that Joshua can adjust in his rematch against Usyk.

But the thing with Usyk is that he is still hungry, unlike Ruiz who just party as long as he can after he upset Joshua. So discipline is the key here. Not saying that Usyk doesn't have the discipline, in fact he can train harder in the second fight so that we might see the same results or even worst, maybe we can see him knocking down Joshua for good.

[hilariousetc]

That's not a close fight, i agree. It was a masterful performnce and complete domination by Usyk and IMO there would be not much difference on the outcome of the second fight. Unlike in the fight against Ruiz where we can say that it was just a lucky punch that turned the fight around in favor of Ruiz. Joshua's confidence will not be here and this time he will be the one that needs a lucky punch to knock Usyk out.

Many experts also thought Joshua has no chance against Ruiz in their second chance but Joshua manage to turn things around, Joshua is dedicated to going back to the gym and see what went wrong and he wants the Fury match to happen, if Joshua turns things around against Ruiz he can do it again against Usyk, he's been in this situation before, he is good in making a comeback, let's see if he can do it again.

I think Usyk is far better and also a much bigger threat than Ruiz was. Anything can happen in boxing though and one punch can change that game as happened in the Ruiz fight. I think if Fury had ten matches against Wilder Wilder would win a couple of them at least. Ruiz didn't take the rematch as seriously as he should have done and paid the price.

Joshua has been known for come back after a devastating defeat and that makes this JOSHUA vs USYK II exciting as when he fought against Ruiz for the second time. Their strategy works to beat Ruiz and if they can execute the same working strategy then he can easily regain back and might have the chance to fight Fury in his next match.

Somehow I don't think Usyk is going to go on a diet of booze and McDonalds for the rematch  . It's going to be interesting to see what game-plan he comes up with. Is he going to try beef up? AJ is already in peak physical shape so I don't he can do much unless he really hits the weights but like I said before don't think it's a good idea.

It's not that AJ is slower than Usyk, it's just he cannot fight a southpaw boxer the same way as he fights an orthodox boxer. The tempo, the feel, the angle, everything is so messed up. He cannot get used to fighting a southpaw boxer in just a few months, so better gamble would be going for in-fight against Usyk.

Maybe not slower, but definitely less agile. I think that's the biggest issue here, and the fact that Joshua seems a little more gun shy since the Andy Ruiz fight. Until Joshua can either counter those problems, or make improvements on those fronts then I can't see him winning the rematch, and it's looking increasingly likely that it'll be a Fury vs Usyk unification fight, which to be honest I think is a good match up. Although, I'd like to see Fury win that, and then move onto Joshua just to prove he's the best of the current heavyweight fighters.

He wasn't gun shy on the Pulev fight and he won via KO if I'm not mistaken.

Pulev is pretty old at 40. He won't be able to tire Usyk out and go in for the kill later on in the fight when he's fatigued. That's pretty much what Usyk did to AJ. If that fight would have gone on another round or maybe even another ten seconds AJ would have gone down.

[mu_enrico]

Usyk is like Lomachenko on steroids, for sure cannot be compared with Ruiz. AJ comeback was against Ruiz, and he is nothing like Usyk. That said, this 2nd fight is way different from the last comeback. In Usyk vs AJ part 2, there's no sure strategy for AJ in my opinion. So, depend on the odds, I'd put my money on Usyk. However, once I hear AJ will put more weight on and go for KO, I will go for AJ. In their 1st fight you can see that AJ was "punch drunk" just like what we often see on Loma's fight. It means two things: (1) Usyk isn't one punch bomber, so AJ shouldn't be afraid to go near him, and (2) AJ cannot beat Usyk with his technique (or the southpaw argument).

[cryptomaniac_xxx]

Usyk is like Lomachenko on steroids, for sure cannot be compared with Ruiz. AJ comeback was against Ruiz, and he is nothing like Usyk. That said, this 2nd fight is way different from the last comeback. In Usyk vs AJ part 2, there's no sure strategy for AJ in my opinion. So, depend on the odds, I'd put my money on Usyk. However, once I hear AJ will put more weight on and go for KO, I will go for AJ. In their 1st fight you can see that AJ was "punch drunk" just like what we often see on Loma's fight. It means two things: (1) Usyk isn't one punch bomber, so AJ shouldn't be afraid to go near him, and (2) AJ cannot beat Usyk with his technique (or the southpaw argument).

I don't think adding more weight will help AJ against Usyk on the rematch, on the contrary if may backfire on him because he will be too slow. Unless he hits Usyk straight in the mouth, but Usyk boxing IQ is underrated. So it might be better for him to go light and chase Usyk around and not to get tired. Because Usyk is a technical fighter and the only way to beat a technical fighter is to be a technical fighter. So can AJ be like that?