On the 25th of June 2021 Oleksandr Usyk beat Anthony Joshua giving AJ his 2nd loss of his career, stripping AJ of all his belts and becoming the unified heavyweight champion of the world winning the WBO, WBA and IBF belt. The Ukrainian went from being the undisputed cruiserweight to heavyweight world champion.
Usyk won by a Unanimous decision. Some say he outclassed by AJ. Usyk showed that he is not just the best at cruiserweight but also the best at heavyweight outclassing the current heavyweight champion.
I got to experience this event live at Tottenham hotspur stadium and it was great to experience such a wonderful event like this live. To see such a masterful boxer like Usyk in the ring was unreal. For AJ all the belts where on the line.
I would say AJ was the slight favourite, but it was 50/50 going into the fight. Many people were spilt on who they thought would win; many thought AJ would win because he is a lot more experienced at heavyweight than Usyk, but some people did favour Usyk to get the victory.
Usyk was the WBO mandatory challenger meaning AJ had to fight or the WBO belt would have been stripped off him. AJ fought Kubert Pulev in his last fight stopping him in the 9th round.
Usyk’s fight before was against Dereck Chisora where he won by unanimous decision.
Usyk was the undisputed champion at cruiserweight. He beat everyone at cruiserweight; the next move was for him to move up to heavyweight. Usyk’s first fight at heavyweight was on October the 12th, 2019 against Chazz Witherspoon where he won by 7th round stoppage. Then, he went on to fight Derek Chisora where he won by unanimous decision, and this made him the WBO mandatory challenger setting up the fight with Anthony Joshua. AJ, on the other hand, had lost a fight with Andy Ruiz only beating him in the rematch then fighting his mandatory challenger Kubert Pulev.
The Atmosphere at Tottenham Hotspur stadium was just amazing. It was the first boxing event in this ground. The ground was just spectacular, and the atmosphere made it even better. The whole build up to the fight was superb, everything about the day and about the fight was just amazing. It was a great night of boxing and a fantastic day out.
I got there by car. I went with my mum and stepdad the weather was cloudy, but it wasn’t rainy. It was a good day out, although I was rooting for AJ and I wanted to see him get the win it was a great night for boxing and fans in such a modern and state of the art stadium. The night as a whole was great and a fantastic night for boxing as a whole and definitely one I won’t forget for a while. Before the fight, I was nervous for AJ as I was hoping to see him keep the belts. Emotions were running high throughout the venue the fans where excited for a great night of boxing.