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| Usyk |
At Jeddah Superdome, Usyk prevailed in the rematch to maintain his titles as WBO, WBA, and IBF heavyweight champion. Usyk was awarded a split decision victory after 12 competitive rounds in a contest in which there was absolutely no question as to who should have won.
Joshua showed that he had actually improved since their bout in September 2021 by adopting a lower stance and avoiding Usyk's traps in the first rounds. Usyk struggled to really get going early because of this as he continued to roam side to side constantly without the same offensive opportunities appearing as they did in the first encounter.
Starting in Round 4, Usyk started to alter his strategy as he realized how Joshua was going about things. Usyk started to circle more and fire off combinations with the goal of touching Joshua more than hurting him with any single shot rather than letting Joshua take the initiative and put pressure on the fight. Joshua started to fall into the same traps as the first encounter in response to Usyk's adjustment, following him and occasionally missing wildly.
However, Joshua made a significant change of his own, concentrating his offensive on Usyk's body, so it wasn't all plain sailing for Usyk. Usyk's movement was slowed down and his head was opened up by a consistent diet of hooks and uppercuts to the chest.
This resulted in Joshua's biggest moment of the fight and his best opportunity to end it early. Usyk was again visibly stunned by Joshua as he pounded him around the ring in round nine.
However, Usyk persevered and displayed real champion attributes in the fight's final three rounds. Usyk significantly increased his production starting in Round 10, repeatedly tagging Joshua with powerful strokes. Usyk gained control and ensured a well-deserving victory as Joshua's lower posture vanished and he started to fight with very straight, slow legs.
After the fight, Usyk received scores of 115-113 and 116-112, while Joshua had an oddly submitted score of 115-113.
Result card of Usyk vs. Joshua rematch and other major fights at the place.
1. Oleksandr Usyk (c) def. Anthony Joshua via split decision (115-113, 113-115, 116-112)
2. Filip Hrgovic def. Zhilei Zhang via unanimous decision (115-112, 115-112, 114-113)
3. Callum Smith def. Mathieu Bauderlique via fourth-round knockout
4. Badou Jack def. Richard Rivera via split decision (96-94, 94-96, 96-94)
