20th August - The Eye of the Tiger


So we’ve come down to the ‘Semi-Final’ for the title of ‘Undisputed’ because, that’s what it is really, isn’t it? I’m not sure anybody is really buying Tyson Fury’s ‘retirement’, and there’s 99% certainty that he’s using that as a tool to name his price when it comes to fighting the Usyk-Joshua winner, especially considering the fact he’s not actually given up his belt to the WBC like all officially ‘retired’ boxers are asked to. In fact, it was only yesterday that Bob Arum told DAZN that he and Frank Warren would immediately set about organising a unification bout with the winner in Saudi Arabia once proceedings are complete tonight.


But first, we must come to the matter in hand down in the financial hotspot, where AJ is once again looking to regain his title, in the same manner he did during a fairly unconvincing rematch with a hugely unfit Andy Ruiz Jnr in December 2019. Those fights undoubtedly battered Joshua’s legacy, particularly the comprehensive defeat in Madison Square Garden in June of that year, and the Brit has since dodged the chance to fight in the U.S again. Whilst his bitter rival has conquered Los Angeles and Las Vegas with his iconic Deontay Wilder trilogy, AJ seems stuck between the purgatory of his London home-comforts, and the Saudi desert, where he can grab a quick buck. But even the former turned into something of a night terror last September when his career took a bigger nose dive than the club whose stadium he was fighting in, as Usyk boxed his head off for 12 rounds in Tottenham. 



Time and time again, the Ukrainian has proved himself as a masterful defensive fighter, making the step up from an unbeaten Cruiserweight career to the heights of the Heavyweight division, where he’s picked off AJ’s good friends Dereck Chisora and Tony Bellew with ease. The latter praised Usyk as the ‘best he ever faced’ after a glittering career which included a double against David Haye, remarking on the Eastern European’s cat-like reflexes and speed of hands. These are the exact forces AJ knows he must nullify, and early on, if he’s to have any chance of regaining his belts tonight. A KO is the only way I can see AJ winning, and having ditched former trainer Rob McCracken, there’s no doubt he’ll be opting for a more aggressive style this time around. The only question which remains, for a man who has lacked that real firepower ever since his 2017 victory over Wladimir Klitschko at Wembley, is if he still possesses….


… The Eye of the Tiger.  

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