Just over a year since his second victory over Anthony Joshua, Oleksandr Usyk has confirmed something many had suspected in the lead-up to the first fight.
Joshua and Usyk shared 24 rounds of tactical warfare in 2021 and 2022. The Ukrainian southpaw came out victorious in both fights to firstly win, and then defend, the WBA, WBO and IBF world titles that Joshua had collected.
The first fight was only Usyk’s third at heavyweight, having come up after cleaning out the cruiserweight division and becoming undisputed champion.
After bulking up for the new weight, he first fought Chazz Witherspoon in Chicago and won with a seventh-round knockout, followed by a unanimous points win over Derek Chisora at Wembley in October 2020.
Speaking to Dev Sahni for The Lowdown, Usyk is told people thought Chisora had more success than anyone against him.
“Let people watch my fight with Derek Chisora and think what they used to think.”
Sahni then put forward the theory that Usyk had ‘played possum’ against Chisora with a view to luring in Joshua for the pair’s first big money fight in Jeddah. He was asked if there was any truth in that.
“Yes, this is true.”
Chisora employed an all-out attack plan against the Ukrainian, and certainly delivered some heavyweight pressure in the early stages.
Many feel this is the blueprint to hand him his first loss – although clearly not the man himself, who was seemingly confident enough to use the fight as bait.
Thoughts on this? đŸ’
Oleksandr Usyk suggests to me that he held back in his fight with Dereck Chisora.
Full interview out 6pm Monday.#UsykDuboispic.twitter.com/DkTVY0sbiX
— Dev Sahni (@devsahni) August 20, 2023