Usyk – Joshua. The Briton puts his career and hundreds of millions of dollars on the line

On the night of Saturday to Sunday, from August 20 to 21 in Jeddah, the former WBA/WBO/IBF/IBO world champion Anthony Joshua in a duel with Oleksandr Usyk will try to take away the titles that he lost to him in September last from the Ukrainian of the year. In the event of a second defeat, the British boxer can put an end to his career and incredible fees. Sport Arena explains why a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk is the fight of a lifetime for Anthony Joshua.

How does Joshua make money?

“I can’t go back to London, as they say, “on the shield” – without belts. I don’t want to come back without a win,” Joshua told reporters in Jeddah on Monday. And I know that I can win. It’s all in the head. Now I declare victory and, I hope, it will come true.

Let’s leave aside Joshua’s statements about the inevitability of his victory – there is still too little information about how the Briton has changed since the last fight with the Ukrainian. But there is no doubt that a return to London without a victory will have far-reaching consequences for Joshua.

Joshua is one of the most financially attractive boxers. Since the fight against Wladimir Klitschko, the Briton’s fees have crossed two tens of millions of euros, and he still holds this bar. For example, Joshua’s guaranteed fee for a rematch with Usyk is $40 million.

Plus, Joshua has an excellent image in Britain and solid partners. According to media reports, advertising activities bring the boxer more than $ 10 million a year. Anthony recently ended his partnership with Sky Sports and signed a long-term deal with streaming service DAZN. It was reported that Joshua’s contract with DAZN Joshua would have two fights a year. According to the deal, Anthony will receive about $100 million a year.

What risks Joshua in the event of a second defeat from Usyk?

Money. But we dare to assume that all this works and will only work if the British sports career is successful. If Joshua loses the second to Usyk, and Fury leaves completely, Anthony simply will not have really big fights and rivals. Yes, you can “get” Wilder and have another Anglo-American fight with him, and even organize a trilogy, but will it be as interesting as the same dulogy with Usyk or potential fights with Fury? Yes, there are still young and hungry Dubois and Yoka, ambitious Joyce, unfading Chisora ​​and interesting Parker, but still, it seems that these will be fights of local, not global significance.

reputation. The sensational defeat from Ruiz Joshua closed with a confident victory in the second fight, proving to some extent the accidental failure in the battle with the little-known “fat man” at that time. Two losses to the recent cruiser will be a much bigger blow for the boxer who claimed the throne of heavyweight king.

To lose yourself. No matter how hard Joshua tries to look calm even in case of failures, defeats hurt his ego very painfully. This was evident after the fight with Ruiz, when Anthony went into himself for quite a long time, and after the first fight with Usyk – statements about revenge immediately after the loss, a long search for a coach, throwing in the organization of a rematch, closeness and laconicism during preparation in comparison with similar periods on the eve of other battles. And if you take into account Joshua’s statements about the rejection of defeat, another loss to Usyk can mentally break Anthony.

What risks Usyk in case of defeat?

Zero in the “defeat” column. Yes, for Usyk, a possible failure will be the first in his professional career. The Ukrainian won all the previous 19 fights. By the way, only two of the top 10 divisions are undefeated: Usyk and Joyce.

Fees. For a rematch with Joshua, the Ukrainian will receive a record fee in his career. Speaking frankly, even in the event of a victory over the Briton, Alexander can hardly count on a similar reward in the next fights. Unless, of course, Tyson Fury becomes his rival. But in case of defeat, the Ukrainian definitely needs to be ready to reduce his fees by an order of magnitude – it will be dangerous to fight him, and Usyk has not yet gained a significant fan and, most importantly, monetary audience in Europe and the world.

What the bookies say

They consider Oleksandr Usyk the favorite for the second fight against Anthony Joshua. Admittedly, the stakes have leveled off a bit. For the victory of the Ukrainian you can bet with odds of 1.66, whereas earlier his victory was estimated at 1.45. You can bet on the British ex-world champion for 2.58 against 2.95 before.

Where to watch Usyk vs Joshua

The second fight of the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight title holder Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) vs former champion Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs) will be shown in over 190 countries of the world. Recall that the broadcast is organized by the DAZN streaming service. The platform will provide coverage of the fight in the US, most of Europe except for the UK, where the rematch will be shown on Sky Sports.

See also: Joyce: Usyk knows exactly what to do. He’s three or four steps ahead of Joshua.

As for Ukraine, as we reported earlier, Oleksandr Usyk bought the rights to broadcast the fight and handed them over to Ukrainian broadcasters for free. The broadcast of the fight between Usyk and Joshua will be available on the MEGOGO service, on the MEGOGO Gong interactive channel, on the regional channels of the Suspіlny TV broadcast, as well as on the 2+2 TV channel.

Pavel Livertovsky