BoxRec

I don't back Uysk to win.
But now the darn fight is so far away I'm losing interest in actually caring who wins.

only bonus is we could get Fury vs whyte late in the year...

Hearn said Joshua was training hard for the Fury fight which was going to be in May, then June etc. If that is so why is he not ready to fight until the end of September? Has he been overdoing the "strength and conditioning"?

BigDoofus wrote: ↑16 Jun 2021, 04:36 Hearn said Joshua was training hard for the Fury fight which was going to be in May, then June etc. If that is so why is he not ready to fight until the end of September? Has he been overdoing the "strength and conditioning"?

Well he’s fighting a completely different opponent. Needs to change up training, be light, sparring etc.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑16 Jun 2021, 05:59

BigDoofus wrote: ↑16 Jun 2021, 04:36 Hearn said Joshua was training hard for the Fury fight which was going to be in May, then June etc. If that is so why is he not ready to fight until the end of September? Has he been overdoing the "strength and conditioning"?

Well he’s fighting a completely different opponent. Needs to change up training, be light, sparring etc.

He’s going from training for a guy who’s 6’9 orthodox to a guy 6 inches shorter, southpaw who’s very tricky so I can fully understand not going ahead with it in August.

Also gives him more time with McCracken given he’ll spend a chunk of the summer in Japan so I understand going with mid/late September.

They’d have also learnt their lesson from not having a full camp for Ruiz for the first fight. Ruiz and Big Baby Miller are both units but fight very differently and clearly AJ doesn’t want to risk losing due to a lack of prep for a certain fighter.

Shame it isn’t happening sooner but it’s understandable I think.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑16 Jun 2021, 05:59

BigDoofus wrote: ↑16 Jun 2021, 04:36 Hearn said Joshua was training hard for the Fury fight which was going to be in May, then June etc. If that is so why is he not ready to fight until the end of September? Has he been overdoing the "strength and conditioning"?

Well he’s fighting a completely different opponent. Needs to change up training, be light, sparring etc.

The arbitration ruling was a month ago. Hearn constantly said how hard he was training for the Fury fight. Does he need another 18 week camp to be ready or does he not want to sign up for testing just yet?

Bellend said: “AJ is the best athletic heavyweight I’ve seen in the last two decades. As an athlete, he’s unbelievable. He’s an unbelievable specimen, he really is. The power he can move at, the speed he can move at, the dexterity.

“He’s on another level to everybody else. He’s just got to keep improving on that boxing IQ, which he is. He showed that against Andy Ruiz Jr in the rematch.

“I know exactly how good Usyk is - he’s an amazing talent, and the best fighter I ever fought. But I don’t believe he’s dangerous enough to cause AJ problems.

“He’s big enough to cause him problems, but I don’t think he’d last long enough to defeat him. He will cause problems while he’s standing and AJ is going to have to get rid of him. He’ll put the pressure on, and make him pay for every single thing he earns in there.

"He’ll have to show different things that he hasn’t done in his career so far, but then again, he’s always improving, always getting better and it’s just fantastic to see.”

"But I don’t believe he’s dangerous enough to cause AJ problems.


“He will cause problems while he’s standing and AJ is going to have to get rid of him. He’ll put the pressure on, and make him pay for every single thing he earns in"

mmmmkay tony

Must of been hard getting Bellews opinion while he was home with the wife and kids.

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑17 Jun 2021, 07:10 "But I don’t believe he’s dangerous enough to cause AJ problems.


“He will cause problems while he’s standing and AJ is going to have to get rid of him. He’ll put the pressure on, and make him pay for every single thing he earns in"

mmmmkay tony

Doesn't know what he's talking about..

Anything to get in front of the camera..

'Good' news.. He's probably gonna be at fight camp.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑17 Jun 2021, 07:17

margaret thatcher wrote: ↑17 Jun 2021, 07:10 "But I don’t believe he’s dangerous enough to cause AJ problems.


“He will cause problems while he’s standing and AJ is going to have to get rid of him. He’ll put the pressure on, and make him pay for every single thing he earns in"

mmmmkay tony

Doesn't know what he's talking about..

Anything to get in front of the camera..

'Good' news.. He's probably gonna be at fight camp.

Bellend is just a matchroom dawg. The guy licks Eddeh's a$$ and coins fall out of there to the mouth of bellend.

It’s a good fight but I just don’t think Usyk is busy enough to rattle Joshua. The southpaw stance might open angles for him but there’s a big difference in biomechanics here and they all favour Joshua. I can’t see Usyk having enough to get a points win… so the question for me is can he knock Joshua out? I suppose anyone can knock anyone out over 200lbs but Usyk is without doubt a cruiser moving up for financial reasons.
He will win a few cagey rounds to start with but I see Joshua stopping him in round 8/9 with the scores 88-84 ish.

My feeling is that it might go the distance, but Usyk being a bit too negative to win the fight - I can see it end up a bit like Joshua vs Parker. Joshua has 1 punch KO power, but fighters with good defence usually go a fair few rounds against him. Think Usyk will survive, be in some ways the moral victor and as a consequence will stay in the mix - but can see it being a fairly wide Joshua points victory in quite a dull fight.

Fight confirmed. As per ESPN sources.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑25 Jun 2021, 20:24

Fight confirmed. As per ESPN sources.

Thank fornicate for that. shame its so late in the year that it basically kills the chance of fighting again after. But if they end up getting in the ring on the 25th of September ill be happy.
Have to admit im nervouse for Usyk, been fucked around so long and now i see the posibility that Fury blasts out wilder and starts shouting AJs name for end of the year. AJ will have to be tempted to try and get that without risking Usyk first.

aj gonna add yet another good win to that deeeep resume of his

Date NOT Set

“You have to be careful what you say, I was only doing an Instagram live and I said: it looks like September 25 at Spurs and… bang… that is the preferred date,” Hearn said. “We have a call to finalize any existing points on the contract, which are all minimal and moving forward that is the likely date.

“It’s not cast iron but it is the preference. Obviously, we were due to do the Pulev fight at Spurs pre-pandemic so we’ve always been looking to do a show there. Hopefully, we can move forward to an official announcement at some point.”

“It’s a must really,” Hearn said. “I’ve just come back from Mexico, I was in Dallas a few weeks ago with 73,000. It’s depressing what we’re seeing over here to be honest with you. But we have to follow the rules.

“If we don’t have a full crowd by the end of September we might as well pack up and go home. That includes the Premier League and all football because they will be butchered if the government don’t open up grounds for the new season. And that obviously that date will fall in line with what we want to do at Spurs.”

“Yeah, it’s always the way, though, isn’t it?” Hearn said. “We [Matchroom] have been lucky enough to have a couple of test events with the snooker, we’ve also been denied stuff when we were told it could happen.

“But they’ve got to follow the rules and the science and it’s very difficult for anyone to make a balanced or correct decision with everything going on.

“But when you look around the world now, and our rate of vaccines, you have to say: you have to open up. It’s ridiculous now.

“You see cases rising, but hospital admissions not rising, everybody who is vulnerable becoming vaccinated… it’s very frustrating now that we’re doing shows all over the world with either full capacity or near-full capacities and we can’t get the same here… fingers crossed September we’ll be good to go.”

Oleksandr Usyk reunites with trainer Anatoly Lomachenko ahead of Anthony Joshua clash

With Oleksandr Usyk currently expected to contend for Anthony Joshua’s world titles on September 25 in London, Top Rank promoter Bob Arum tells Sky Sports that the Ukrainian has re-enlisted the services of Anatoly Lomachenko, the father/trainer of Vasiliy Lomachencko, to prepare him for the battle.

Usyk was previously trained by Yuri Tkachenko for his bout against Derek Chisora but has now returned to his roots, working with a trainer he’s worked with since the amateurs. And while Usyk isn’t one of Arum’s fighters, Arum says he’s fully aware of Usyk’s new training plans due to Usyk’s close personal relationship with Lomachenko, with Arum even referring to Usyk as a ‘really good friend.’

“Egis Klimas, who is the manager of both, I talk with him and he has talked with the father of Lomachenko, who he calls ‘Papa Lomachenko’ who was the trainer of all these Ukrainian Olympians and he’s agreed to properly train Usyk for this fight. His father wouldn’t train anyone else, but he will train Usyk, because Usyk is like family.”

Usyk, who is truly a fantastic boxer, will be vying for a shot at heavyweight glory in this outing after becoming undisputed cruiserweight champion during the World Boxing Super Series. Going up against Joshua, Usyk will surely be at a natural size disadvantage, so he’ll likely need all of the technical skill and tactics he can muster under the tutelage of ‘Papachenko.’

Bellew told White and Jordan on talkSPORT: “It’s a hard fight, I’m not gonna lie. It’s a very, very hard fight.

“If anything, it’s just got even harder because Usyk has now gone back with Lomachenko’s father.

“That makes it even harder because they will create a game plan that is gonna try and negate everything good that Anthony Joshua does.

“They’re gonna try and take everything away from him.

“That’s what Usyk does so well. He takes away your strengths before he looks at implementing his own strengths.

“And by taking away your strengths, you’re lost. The things he does with his feet – he’s exceptional.

“So I think it’s a really hard fight, I think it’s really dangerous.”

Despite the threat of the Ukrainian dream team, Bellew is confident his fellow countryman will ultimately emerge victorious.

He continued: “I think Anthony Joshua will be down on points when he catches up with him.

“I think he will catch up with him between rounds six and ten – I really do.

“I just think the size is too much, I just think the speed and the power will be too much.

“The thing about Anthony Joshua is he’s now becoming a student of the game. He’s putting in extra time, studying. He’s watching the old school fighters.

“He’s a consummate professional, the best conditioned heavyweight in the world.

“Physically, I would say the best athlete the heavyweight division has seen in 20 years. Without a shadow of a doubt.

“All he needs to click up on now is his actual boxing IQ and that’s getting better and better.

“He’s gonna have to implement speed and force against Usyk. There is no other way around it.

“There’s no easy way to beat this guy.”

Love this pic.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑01 Jul 2021, 11:08 Love this pic.

Yeah, it's always satisfying to rewatch, how bellend got iced.

DrDuke wrote: ↑01 Jul 2021, 11:19

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑01 Jul 2021, 11:08 Love this pic.

Yeah, it's always satisfying to rewatch, how bellend got iced.

I actually watch the highlights o youtube. It's usually on my homepage screen on my telly..

Just put it on, watch the intro's, Smith's infamous 'Bomber' comment.

Skim through few rounds, then BAM!! KO!!

Can’t wait for Usyk v Joshua. Looking forward to seeing what Usyk will bring to the table.

As for Usyk v Bellew……well I’ve seen the fight about 10 times and the Bellew interview afterwards on about 100 occasions. Worth a watch.

Love that he has Lomas dad back, but needs to be heapppps fit for the style and angle cutting, also needs to bring in a bit more movement rather than taking stuff on the gloves at heavyweight. Just hope his body at 34+ and a bit heavier can still pull off a moment heavy 12 round. IF Usyk can still fight like he could 3 or 4 years ago then he is every chance.

Back a few years ago, before Fury's comeback (where I didn't think he'd ever come back from the cocaine and the obesity and the Decca pop test) I was pretty confident that Usyk would jump to heavyweight and beat AJ.

I was quite vocal about it with my casual friends, all of whom had never heard of Usyk.

The only person in the top 5 against another top 5 fighter to look amazing on the night is Fury against Wilder (specifically the second fight, where he looked unbeatable).

All the rest of the top Big Boys (AJ, Wilder, Ruiz, Whyte, Usyk, Parker) have either had shaky or unimpressive showings since then, and I'm not convinced enough by either AJ's crap showing against the ghost of Pulev or Usyk's survivalist pot shotting against an aged Chisora, no matter how empathetic those wins were, to say either has an easy night here.

Usyk is a massive banana skin for AJ.

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑01 Jul 2021, 11:33

DrDuke wrote: ↑01 Jul 2021, 11:19

Ruthless-RKO wrote: ↑01 Jul 2021, 11:08 Love this pic.

Yeah, it's always satisfying to rewatch, how bellend got iced.

I actually watch the highlights o youtube. It's usually on my homepage screen on my telly..

Just put it on, watch the intro's, Smith's infamous 'Bomber' comment.

Skim through few rounds, then BAM!! KO!!

It was a master strategy against a limited opponent perfectly executed: pretend to fall short for the first few rounds, make the scouse muppet box out of his skin and waste a ton of energy doing so and let him think he's winning. Step up the pace in the middle rounds, actually fight Bellend when he's shot his bolt and bang him out when the time is right.

A brilliant performance.