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Anthony Joshua returns to Saudi Arabia for an additional rematch, this time in opposition to Oleksandr Usyk on August 20
THE final time Anthony Joshua wanted to each exorcise the demons of a painful defeat and safe a payday the like of which most different boxers can solely think about, he set sail to Saudi Arabia in December 2019 and dragged alongside a well-fed Andy Ruiz Jnr for the experience.
Collectively, the pair danced with the satan, then ate in hell. They dined initially on Saudi meals with Saudi money earlier than flirting with sheikhs and delivering a pedestrian most important occasion which thrilled no person apart from Joshua, who, to his credit score, boxed sensibly to win on the scorecards. It was, on reflection, a shrewd determination to take the rematch there, a minimum of in competitors phrases, for it put Joshua again in management. He was not solely answerable for the promotion however, in shifting away from each America and his dwelling nation, afforded the posh of boxing in an enormous ring surrounded largely by silence, which undoubtedly helped.
Ultimately, the Ruiz battle resembled a glorified sparring session, one performed out earlier than a crowd too wealthy to concentrate, and Joshua couldn’t have requested for something extra. Certainly, so profitable was the enterprise, the Londoner at the moment introduced he’ll return to Saudi Arabia (the Jeddah Tremendous Dome, Jeddah) on August 20, once more within the hope of reversing a disappointing heavyweight loss.
The distinction this time, after all, is that his opponent will likely be Ukraine’s Oleksandr Usyk, 19-0 (13), somebody who, not like Andy Ruiz, didn’t simply beat Joshua in September 2021 however outclassed him; somebody who, not like Andy Ruiz, could have remained in respectable form ever since.
These two components will presumably have a higher bearing on the results of the rematch than the situation of the battle, however, even so, in getting the battle to Saudi Arabia, the scene of arguably Joshua’s most important win, his group have executed all they’ll to safeguard his psychological state, in addition to offered him the best setting to give attention to executing the sport plan many felt he was missing first time round.
Time will inform. For now, whereas it’s simple to grasp why Joshua is returning to Saudi Arabia, each from a monetary standpoint and a contest standpoint, it might be remiss to not specific some disappointment that the rematch isn’t once more going down in the UK, the place battle one was so successful. One may additionally make the argument that to ensure that Joshua to actually execute his recreation plan – that’s, the one he must neutralise Usyk’s elegant southpaw expertise – he’ll sooner or later require the roar of the house crowd and all this tends to convey out in him.
Or possibly, for this rematch, just like the Ruiz one, that noise is exactly what Joshua, 24-2 (22), is hoping to keep away from. Perhaps, by advantage of him fleeing the UK, he in flip escapes the microscope, the questions, and the strain. Perhaps it’s for the very best.
And but, if certainly that’s the case, he ought to in all probability put together himself for a distinct type of microscope in Saudi Arabia. For although having carried out there earlier than, each nothing and the whole lot has modified within the two and a half years since, and in a lot the identical manner soccer and golf have not too long ago fallen below a distinct type of microscope, so too will Joshua, Usyk, and boxing, a sport whose home has by no means precisely been so as however whose household has by no means appeared as dysfunctional because it does at the moment.
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