The dust (or even sand) has settled after Anthony Joshua’s defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia last weekend. This monumental defeat for Joshua was not only his second loss to Usyk in less than 12 months, but the points decision win for the man from Ukraine meant this was Joshua’s third defeat in his last five fights.
A decade ago, Anthony Joshua wone of the faces of the London 2012 Olympics. After claiming gold in the super heavyweight division, the man who would become known simply as ‘AJ’ was propelled to international super-stardom.
Media friendly, big smile and appearing to have been chiseled out of a piece of granite, Joshua became an instant favourite with the British public. After turning professional and signing with Eddie Hearn’s Matchroom Boxing, the hype around Anthony Joshua could not have been higher. Within just 16 fights, his meteoric rise was capped with a first world title as he knocked out Charles Martin for the IBF crown in London.
Despite the early success, many boxing experts felt that Joshua did not possess the ring craft and boxing IQ to thrust him to that elite level of fighter. After all, Joshua only started boxing at 18 years old, which is considered very late, and had only 51 amateur fights before turning professional. Take his opponent last week Oleksandr Usyk for example – Usyk had 350 amateur bouts before turning pro, meaning he could properly hone his ring savvy, sublime skills and terrifying technique.
Joshua on the other hand was on a mission – two fights after Martin he was pitted against one of the most dominant heavyweights in a generation, Wladimir Klitschko. An epic night at Wembley ensued with both fighters being floored before Joshua managed an 11th round knockout which ended Klitschko’s career and secured the WBA and IBO world titles in the process.
Two fights later and still undefeated, Joshua beat Joseph Parker to take home the WBO heavyweight title but with only the WBC title to grasp, it would be his 23rd fight and debut in America that saw Joshua’s flaws exposed. Beaten convincingly by an out of shape Andy Ruiz Jr., Joshua lost his titles on a shock night in New York.
Six months later and a much better performance in the rematch, Joshua became a two-time world champion with his sights then firmly set on the WBC belt, which was contested in a trilogy of spectacular fights between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder. Another win against Kubrat Pulev set Joshua up for a very dangerous first fight with Usyk, the undisputed cruiserweight world champion, who after conquering that division undefeated, was moving up weight category to heavyweight.
On a bad night for Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Usyk put on a clinic of technical boxing and had Joshua rocked in the 12th. The scorecards were unanimous, Joshua had lost his 2nd professional fight along with his world titles.
After changing his trainer, Joshua was much improved in the Usyk rematch. More technically astute and less risk averse to letting his fists fly, Joshua had Usyk in trouble in the 9th but was not able to capitalise. The Ukrainian then put on a display of boxing that bamboozled Joshua for the final three rounds and despite Joshua’s feelings post-fight, Usyk was the clear winner.
The shock defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr. was a blip, but two consecutive losses against an opponent who outfought, outthought, and ultimately outclassed Joshua on both occasions has left the Watford native somewhat in the heavyweight world title wilderness. The road back to the triumph and titles AJ has enjoyed for much of his professional career could be a long one but one thing that is certain, the landscape of the heavyweight division has shifted and Joshua’s bid to dominate this era of heavyweight boxing is all but over. With Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk already in talks for a colossal unification bout, which could well be one of the highest grossing sporting events of all time, what is next for Anthony Joshua?
It's not as if Joshua is without options – he is of course a prize fighter of the highest calibre, still capable of packing stadiums and drawing in the highly coveted pay-per-view purchases. However, with his pugilistic prowess in question and attention turned to Fury and Usyk, there are still potentially some big fight nights available depending on what the Joshua camp chooses to do next.
