Last week, Eddie Hearn assured us, he promised us, there would be an official announcement regarding the Oleksandr Usyk-Anthony Joshua rematch this week. The word is the fight will take place in the Middle East in August, but until the fight is 100-percent we will not know for sure. One man who has shared a ring with AJ feels certain what the outcome will be when the return fight rolls around.
Kubrat Pulev – who will face fellow veteran Dereck Chisora in London on July 9, this a must-win fight for both men – says Usyk will knock Joshua out in the rematch. Pulev, who was himself stopped by AJ in December of 2020 (this Joshua most recent victory), says Joshua is “nothing special.”
“When they make a rematch, I think Usyk is going to knock him out because Joshua is nothing special,” the Bulgarian said when speaking recently with Seconds Out. “I lost against him [Joshua] but I wasn’t good prepared. It’s my mistake, of course. It’s my fault, but that was the situation. Now I’m a lot of power and energy. Health is most important.”
There was talk that Pulev, now 41 years of age and 29-2(14) was suffering from the effects of a bout with Covid in the Joshua fight. Whatever the case, Pulev didn’t perform and he was quite easily beaten, being stopped in round nine. In terms of Usyk Vs. Joshua, some fans feel Usyk was close to taking a fatigued Joshua out in the fading seconds of the final round of their first fight, back in September of last year. Maybe Usyk can indeed step up his game and score a stoppage this time?
Joshua, however, is aiming to stamp his heavyweight authority on the naturally smaller Usyk in the return. With new coach Robert Garcia working with him, AJ needs to be more aggressive in the rematch and maybe he will be. If he isn’t, Joshua may well lose again.
It’s up to Joshua to prove that he is something special in the return fight, not the other way around.
