Boxing

TOMORROW night Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk will find out which one of boxing’s most dog-eared cliches applies to them.How many times have we heard, “A good big ’un always beats a good little ’un” or, “A clever boxer beats a big puncher”.
Anthony Joshua’s last fight was against Bulgarian Kubrat PulevCredit: GETTY IMAGES
Oleksandr Usyk is undefeated, defeating Dereck Chisora in his last fightCredit: GETTY IMAGES
68,000 fans will be inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to watch the heavyweight boutCredit: GETTY IMAGES
This Tottenham Hotspur Stadium battle is for Joshua’s WBA, IBF and WBO titles but it could easily be called the Weight Watchers world heavyweight championship.
Most weigh-ins are usually just the titillating overture before the curtain goes up.
But all eyes will be on the scales today because what the needle shows could be of the utmost significance when it comes to the outcome of this David v  Goliath battle.
Unbeaten Ukrainian Usyk might be a master craftsman but he is coming up from the cruiserweights to take on Joshua — a 17stone powerhouse.
Usyk is bound to have bulked up from his 14st 8lb natural fighting weight. Some forecast he will be at least 16st.
If Usyk has not got the balance right and  overdone the muscle-building, he will lose vital speed which will make Brit Joshua’s task that much easier.

BETTING SPECIAL – GET JOSHUA TO WIN IN ROUNDS 1-6 AT 60/1 OR ANYTIME AT 25/1
But if his nutritionist has managed to work out the perfect combination of adding strength without any loss of agility, Joshua could be in serious trouble.
It always captures the fans’ imagination when great champions from a lower division come out of their comfort zone to have a go at the big boys — not that Usyk at 6ft 3in is a midget.
But I’m afraid history is against the Ukrainian — since the heavyweight division started 132 years ago only two men have managed to prove size doesn’t matter.
Michael Spinks, world light-heavyweight champion, was the first when he got a very controversial points decision over Larry Holmes, 36 years ago.
And, in 2003, Roy Jones Jr outpointed John Ruiz to win the WBA version of the title and then promptly relinquished it.
There have been many exceptional 12st 7lb men who have tried, and failed, to win the richest prize in sport.
These include Tommy Loughran, John Henry Lewis, Gus Lesnevich, Bob Foster and Archie Moore — who tried twice and was KO’d by Floyd Patterson and Rocky Marciano.
The first to have a go was George Carpentier, the idol of the Parisians, who challenged Jack Dempsey in front of 80,000 New Jersey fans in 1921.

Carpentier was brave enough having won the Croix de Guerre — France’s  Victoria Cross — in the First World War.
He just found being outweighed by 17lbs too much against a ruthless puncher like Dempsey and  was KO’d in the fourth.
But it was Billy Conn who managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in June 1941.
With his speed of thought and movement, he was outclassing the immortal Joe Louis.
At the end of the 12th, with the 60,000 New Yorkers inside the Polo Grounds in a frenzy of excitement, he had the world heavyweight champion staggering back to his corner — he was nearly two stone lighter than the 14st-plus champion.
All he had to do was dance for the last nine minutes to achieve one of boxing’s  most memorable triumphs.
But he then had a rush of blood to the head. For a reason known only to Conn, he then decided that Louis was ready to be knocked out.
He was overexcited and when he went for it, he left himself wide open to one of Louis’ lethal right-hand bombs.
And Conn’s moment of immortality had gone as he lay asleep on the canvas being counted out . . . 
When Louis was asked before the fight if he was worried that Conn would be much too fast for him, Joe said in his usual laconic way: “He can run, but he can’t hide.”
A remark that has been used again and again worldwide.

🥊 Joshua vs Usyk: All the TV, stream and undercard info ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight bout
Fortunately for Joshua, the same one-liner now applies to Usyk.
Not surprisingly, Joshua is 2-5 favourite. But Usyk is a short-priced 9-4, so there’s a lot of good boxing judges who believe he has a great chance of lifting the three titles and infuriating Tyson Fury.
I think the first cliche will prevail. Being hit, pushed and shoved around by Joshua is bound to tire him and I can see him being stopped around the ninth.
Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk face off for final press conference ahead of big fight More

IT MIGHT not be the fight the nation demanded but, for the first time in three years, Anthony Joshua will  pack out a major British stadium again tomorrow night.Joshua claims he is not in the fight game for the fame, but to lift the profile of his sweet science to unprecedented levels.
Oleksandr Usyk will be one of Anthony Joshua’s biggest tests since Wladimir KlitschkoCredit: GETTY IMAGES
Joshua’s last fight was against Bulgarian Kubrat PulevCredit: GETTY IMAGES
68,000 fans are expected to attend Saturday’s spectacle at the Tottenham Hotspur StadiumCredit: MATCHROOM
That he undoubtedly did in 2017 and 2018, when we grew accustomed to AJ’s big nights out, as he slayed Wladimir Klitschko, Carlos Takam, Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin in front of 80,000 crowds at Wembley and Cardiff.
Since then, Joshua lost his crown to Andy Ruiz Jr in New York, won it back in a soulless desert setting in Saudi Arabia, then endured the pandemic like the rest of us before he knocked out Kubrat Pulev in front of a tiny audience at  Wembley Arena last year.
At Tottenham’s magnificent new stadium tomorrow night, Joshua will put his three belts on the line in front of a 68,000 crowd against Ukraine’s former undisputed world cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk.
And Joshua, 31, said: “When I  started boxing in around 2008, there was a global financial crisis and no real investment in sport, no governments were investing on boxing.
“But I committed and I worked hard and brought attention back to boxing.
“I don’t promote boxing to be famous, I do it so we can all benefit from it. I work hard to make sure boxing is a high profile, respected sport.”

BETTING SPECIAL – GET JOSHUA TO WIN IN ROUNDS 1-6 AT 60/1 OR ANYTIME AT 25/1
Promoter Eddie Hearn can claim all he likes that it ‘doesn’t get any bigger than this’.
But we all know this was supposed to be the year Joshua would fight Tyson Fury for the undisputed world heavyweight crown, in what would have undoubtedly been the biggest contest in British boxing history.We must wait for that.
Perhaps until Joshua and Fury are past their prime, as Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao were when they finally got it on.
Or perhaps we will never see the two Brits face off. Boxing politics is a murky world of claim and counter-claim and who’s dodging who.
Usyk, a cunning technician, does represent a serious test for Joshua, while Fury completes his trilogy with Deontay Wilder in Las Vegas in a fortnight’s time.
Should either Brit lose, we may never witness two British fighters contesting the undisputed world heavyweight title.
Still, there is a buzz about this one. Full houses at sporting events still have a novelty value and British boxing has not seen an occasion like this one since Povetkin was knocked out at Wembley in 2018.
Spurs chairman Daniel Levy was an interested onlooker at yesterday’s press conference as Hearn bigged up his world-class venue, which will host NFL matches and Guns N’ Roses concerts but is unlikely to stage Champions League football again any time soon.

This fight, between two Olympic gold medallists from London 2012, is arguably Joshua’s toughest test since his epic defeat of Klitschko in 2017.
And old Dr Steelhammer’s fellow Ukrainian Usyk — a showman who wanted to be an actor and turned up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium yesterday dressed in a flamboyant red suit and mustard shirt — recalls that contest keenly.
Usyk, a 34-year-old southpaw, said: “I remember it was a big fight and  Joshua was knocked down. I remember Joshua took a little pause, a timeout, but then he went on to win.
“It was a big event with 80,000 people watching, but it means nothing now. Because on Saturday it is a different boxer and place.
“That Klitschko fight showed Joshua has vulnerabilities but everyone has vulnerabilities. You can show them or hide them, but we all have them.
“The Anthony who fought Klitschko is not connected to the guy I am fighting.”
Rob McCracken, who has trained Joshua since his amateur days, said: “The first real challenge for Anthony was Klitschko. It was a big ask, Klitschko had dominated for years.
“But he has always just wanted to learn on the job and take on all comers. It’s what he is about.
“Anthony will fight anyone, he always does, and Usyk has a similar record in the cruiserweight division.”

🥊 Joshua vs Usyk: All the TV, stream and undercard info ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight bout
Joshua was playing it cool yesterday, claiming fight night would merely be an extension of his training camp, ‘Where you get to see me hitting a live punchbag instead’.
“I am not an easy touch for anyone,” he said, “And, 100 per cent, the last place you would want to be is facing myself.”
And certainly not when Joshua is back in front of his adoring public at long last.
Anthony Joshua wishes both Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury luck in their trilogy fight More

DILLIAN WHYTE reckons Anthony Joshua needs to make short work of Oleksandr Usyk to cement himself as a heavyweight gr-eight.The Body Snatcher, 33, has watched enough of ex-undisputed cruiserweight champ Usyk to know that Joshua needs to blow away the old 14st 4lbs king with heavyweight authority.
Anthony Joshua will put his heavyweight titles on the line against Oleksandr Usyk on SaturdayCredit: Getty
Dillian White believes Joshua’s power will be too much for UsykCredit: Getty
Ahead of his own October 30 showdown with Otto Wallin, Whyte told SunSport: “Joshua is a 17st puncher, going in against a guy who can make 14st. He needs to knock him out impressively inside eight rounds — or anything else and it’s a bad night.
“Usyk is a good technical boxer but he carries no power at heavyweight and Joshua should blow him out.”
Whyte, who beat AJ in the amateurs but was stopped by him in seven brilliant pro rounds in 2015, is facing a tricky southpaw of his own in Wallin.
The 6ft 6in Swede slashed 47 stitches into Tyson Fury’s eye in 2019 before losing on points.
And with a lack of unorthodox heavyweights around for sparring — and Usyk claiming all of AJ’s practice rounds will be wasted, as his style is unrepeatable — Whyte is keen to see how his fellow Brit handles only the second — and maybe first serious — southpaw of his pro career
The Brixton ace explained: “The only southpaw AJ has boxed as a pro is Charles Martin, the worst heavyweight champion in history.

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“And he only turned up for a payday and lay down without throwing a punch.
“But beating up a southpaw ain’t too different to beating up an orthodox fighter. The difference is in the defending, boxing on the back foot against someone with a different stance.
“Joshua should have been doing loads of rounds against good southpaws, without even throwing shots back, just letting them throw the shots and learning to adapt to them and counter them.”
After Andy Ruiz Jr stunned Joshua with a left hook to the temple in June 2019, his two return bouts since that shock defeat have proved little about his punch resistance.

🥊 Joshua vs Usyk: All the TV, stream and undercard info ahead of Saturday’s heavyweight bout
The rematch was a cautious points win that got AJ his world titles back and Kubrat Pulev was blasted out in nine one-sided rounds last December, leaving Whyte with questions.
He added: “The Ruiz loss was heavy, he was dropped four times and didn’t want to continue by the end.
“The two fights since haven’t shown much. Ruiz came in at 20st and Pulev was a 39-year-old looking for his pension.
“If Joshua is a serious heavyweight then he will not be troubled by Usyk — but he is going to get asked a lot of questions and we have to wait to see if he has the answers.”
 Watch VOW Nutrition athlete Dillian Whyte fight on October 30 at the O2 or on DAZN.
Dillian Whyte slams Oleksandr Usyk for trying to be weird and freaky ahead of Anthony Joshua fight More

RIDDICK BOWE has been withdrawn from Celebrity Boxing’s fight bill on October 2.The former undisputed heavyweight world champion, 54, was due to fight ex-basketball star Lamar Odom at the beginning of next month.
Riddick Bowe’s (left) proposed fight with Lamar Odom has been called off
Worrying video footage emerged of Bowe, 54, looking far from fight-ready
But footage has emerged of Bowe looking very stiff and not prepared for a fight while he shadow boxed in a gym.
And Celebrity Boxing have decided Bowe will no longer be taking part in the bout.
The organisation is concerned about Bowe’s health and blamed his management company for hiding the true nature of Bowe’s condition.
The president of the Association of Boxing Commission, Michael Mazzulli, will likely welcome the decision.
In a statement he said: “It makes for a hot topic just to talk about fighters’ age – Evander [Holyfield], [Mike] Tyson, Riddick Bowe.
“But age discrimination is not what the discussion should be about. The discussion should be about safety.”

There have been several celebrity boxing bouts in recent years, including some high-profile names coming out of retirement.
Mike Tyson fought Roy Jones jr. with both appearing to be in good shape and healthy enough to go eight rounds.
But after Evander Holyfield was knocked down in 109 seconds by Victor Belfort earlier this month, concerns have been raised over the health of former boxers.
Bowe had been keen to fight Tyson or Holyfield at the event and asked his fans who they would like to see him come up against – but now he will not be fighting anyone.
Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk face off for final press conference ahead of big fight More