Joshua v Usyk 25th September - Tottenham Stadium

[Master]

Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk: Joe Joyce previews the contest

Joe Joyce has given his views on the upcoming September 25th boxing contest between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.

Joyce believes that the IBF/WBA/WBO Heavyweight Champion Joshua will be too large and powerful for the 2012 Olympic gold medallist Usyk.

The WBO mandatory is unsure whether Usyk has had the requisite power and strength training to get him big enough to cause real damage to Joshua in just over a month.

Speaking to Boxing Social, Joyce outlined exactly why he sees the Brit walking out of Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with the win. He said: “I think he [Joshua] is too big and too strong for Usyk, but I’m not writing off Usyk because he’s so skilled, and he’s a great boxer too.

“I’ve got respect for both of them. He [Oleksandr] could cause an upset; he’s got the potential to, or nick the fight.

“We’ll see because he’s been working on his weight, so maybe his power might be his tactic. We’ll have to see what happens, but I’m edging for Joshua, obviously.

Joyce also discussed his contest with Usyk back in 2012, at the World Series of Boxing. “He was just levels above me, especially at that time and coming off a gold medal win in London,” Joyce stated.

“He’s such a skilled fighter. He had 350 amateur bouts or something like that with a high win ratio, and especially with the trainer [Anatoliy] Lomachenko.

“The work he does with both of them is unreal. They’re doing hands down clap press-ups and freaking whatever calculations, but it gets the job done, so it’s exciting.”

Joyce himself is planning to fight again in October, and he discussed his plans while he waits on the winner of Joshua vs Usyk. He said: “I don’t mind. I quite like to stay active and see what fights are out there,” said Joyce when he was asked about his WBO mandatory status.

“I’m thinking about getting out there in October again, but obviously, I’m the WBO mandatory.

“Not to take that lightly, so we’ll see what’s on the opponent’s list and what’s on the agenda and look forward to watching me out there again."

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/boxi...cid=entnewsntp

[palmerq]

I hope usyk manages to win this, he's wonderfully talented and smart but his performance v chisora was quite worrying... Chisora is indeed a big lump who must be a nightmare to fight but despite the skill difference usyk looked pretty over matched size wise and looked pretty uncomfortable a few too many times for me to think a better big man than chisora won't beat him... Usyk has great movement and intelligence to take advantage of Joshua but I think the size will take the life out of usyk and Joshua will just beat him down..usyk doesn't have the power and explosiveness of Haye to cause an upset I think... Joshua is just too big and good enough to win this.

Good work from usyk for going for this fight too, I'm sure he could have stayed at cruiser weight and racked up some easy fairly good pay days there but he beat them all and he might as well end his career going for the big prize.