Heavyweight Boxing at Its Best!

By: Adam Rushton, Social Content Manager for AllTheBelts (twitter: @StraightStrikin instagram: @adamrushton21)

Boxing’s heavyweight division is absolutely on fire this fall! Coming off the heels of a legendary bout between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua, we now find ourselves amid fight week for the rubber match of Tyson Fury versus Deontay Wilder. While both high-profile fights are two of the most significant heavyweight matches that we could ask for, it is worth noting just how different these matchups are, and what elements each thrilling and extremely talented competitor brings into the ring.

Joshua vs. Usyk

On Saturday September 25th, from the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, Britain’s own Anthony Joshua made a grand entrance in front of 65,000 screaming fight fans to face off against the former Unified World Cruiserweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk. Since Usyk’s decision to relinquish his titles and make the move up in weight, the heavyweight division has been put on notice and with the absolute masterclass of punching technique and intelligent defense that he displayed versus Joshua, we see that notice was certainly justified. The southpaw Ukrainian competitor’s ability to utilize footwork and stellar head movement resulted in Joshua spending the majority of the evening getting counter punched and outpointed. Heavily behind on the judges’ scorecards, “AJ” began to realize there was going to be no way to outbox a fighter with this kind of speed and technique, which is why he decided to start hunting for the power shot. The hunt was on, but Usyk seemed to expect this and started to play a careful game, picking his shots very specifically. Usyk was able to, on more than one occasion, faint in order to draw out a reaction from Joshua, track him down with the jab, and unload an utter bomb of a left hand that sent Joshua stumbling back and manifested the thought in our minds that we may see this fight end with Joshua on the canvas. While that wound up to not be the result of this fantastic showing, we did see the 12th round conclude with Joshua moving backward until he was hung up on the ropes while Usyk walked him down and delivered several hard shots, making sure there would be no doubt in the judges’ minds who won the fight. Usyk earned the well-deserved unanimous decision victory and now holds the…