OLEKSANDR USYK admitted the power of Anthony Joshua’s punches sent him to ‘Elon Musk for a while’.
The reveal came when Usyk addressed his fans after returning home to Ukraine as the new unified heavyweight champion.
He came back to a hero’s welcome after putting on a 12 round masterclass 1,600 miles away from to dethrone AJ at Tottenham’s stadium.
But while Usyk made it seem all so simple, in reality AJ’s power was out of this world.
He said: “There were quite tangible blows. You can see it on my face too. There was a cut when we hit our heads.
“Then a light blow from his jab broke an eyebrow, which was flooding my right eye with blood.
“I will not hide that there were very sensitive blows to the chin, to the stomach, which sent me to Elon Musk for a while, but I quickly returned.
“In battle, adrenaline and emotions are so overwhelming that you feel it after the battle – pain, dizziness and everything else.
“In the ring, you are very focused on your actions.”
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Punch stats after the fight revealed AJ actually threw more with 641 compared to Usyk’s 529.
But the newly crowned king was by far the more accurate puncher, landing 148 times with an accuracy of 28 per cent.
Whereas AJ connected with 123, scoring with only 19 per cent of his shots as for the second time in his career he surrendered the belts.
The first came in 2019 following shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr, 32, but that was avenged six months later.
In similar fashion, Joshua looks set to exercise his right to an immediate rematch.
Usyk’s promoter Alexander Krassyuk said: “The rematch was specified in the contract.
“It has already been activated in principle, from the side of Joshua.
“So I remember when we discussed with Oleksandr the issue of rematch, he was delighted and said, ‘Wow, cool, I will beat Anthony twice.'”
Source: Boxing - thesun.co.uk
