Barry Hearn of Matchroom says Anthony Joshua is still determined to avenge his two losses to Oleksandr Usyk.
Still Haunted by Usyk
Joshua, 34, is still bitter over his two defeats against Usyk (22-0, 14 KOs) in 2020 and 2021. They wrecked fans’ perceptions of him as an invincible top-of-the-shelf heavyweight, exposing him as a mentally fragile fighter who is outboxed.
If Joshua fights Usyk a third, he may live to regret it because I don’t think he’ll be able to handle a third defeat against the talented Ukrainian. We saw AJ melting down mentally inside the ring after his defeat against Usyk in 2022, grabbing and tossing his belts.
Joshua looked like he had completely lost his senses and had a wild look in his eyes. If they fight again, security needs to be ready to jump in the ring to control Joshua if he loses. He looked like he was capable of doing anything at that moment. I mean, anything.
Unfortunately, AJ (28-3, 25 KOs) may not get the chance to face his two-time conqueror Usyk if he fails to defeat IBF heavyweight champion Daniel Dubois in their headliner on September 14th at Wembley Stadium in London, England.
If Joshua loses that fight, he’ll be busy trying to avenge the defeat in a rematch, and that could go just as badly against the young knockout artist Dubois (22-2, 21 KOs), who can do pretty much everything AJ can but is much tougher.
Dubois is more rugged than Joshua and built for life on the frontlines of war. In a back-and-forth shootout, Dubois is arguably more mentally tough to handle that kind of a fight than Joshua, who crumbles under pressure. Losing to Dubois twice will erase any chances of Joshua facing Usyk to avenge one of his two defeats.
“He wants to beat Usyk because, in the first fight he had with Usyk, frankly, he came out second best. He went away, he regrouped, he learned, he studied and he still got beat in the second fight. That’s why he got so disappointed in the second fight,” said Barry Hearn to Sky Sports News about Anthony Joshua wanting to avenge his two defeats against Oleksandr Usyk.
The Mental Toll of Defeat
It’s got to be tough on Joshua to live with his two losses to Usyk, but he’s got to come to terms with those defeats. He wasn’t good enough, and that’s just how it is. Fighting him a third time could ruin him, leaving him just a mental shell of the person he was before the fight.
“These people want to win, and they want a legacy. I don’t think Anthony Joshua will sleep at night until he is unified,” said Hearn.
Read the full article here
