On the 25th of September, 2021, British-born Nigerian professional boxer – Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua, simply known as Anthony Joshua or by his initials AJ, took on Ukrainian professional boxer – Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk, or simply Usyk, in a fight at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
The professional boxing match billed as "The Perfect Storm" ended with a unanimous decision win for Usyk, ceasing the reign of Anthony Joshua, a two-time former unified world heavyweight champion. As the world heavyweight champion, Joshua held the WBA (Super), WBO, IBO, and IBF titles from December 2019 to September 2021.
Here's a summary of AJ's professional boxing record:
★ Total fights — 26★ Total wins — 24
→By knockout – 22
→By unanimous decision – 2
★ Total losses — 2
The match, which took place at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London, England, had 4 titles on the line – WBA (Super), IBO, WBO, and IBF heavyweight titles, with "The Cat" – Oleksandr Usyk emerging as the winner. Before the match, Usyk had a pre-fight record of 18-0 (13 KOs) and was recognized as the undisputed cruiserweight champion.
After defeating Anthony Joshua, Usyk became the 3rd boxer in history (after Evander Holyfield & David Haye) to emerge as a champion of the cruiserweight world titles and world heavyweight champion.
Here's a summary of Usyk's professional boxing record:
★ Total fights — 19★ Total wins — 19
→By knockout – 13
→By unanimous decision – 6
★ Total losses — 0
Throughout the 12 rounds, Usyk produced an upsetting heat, punching AJ countless times from all angles, till the latter couldn't see in the 9th round. After losing his titles, AJ headed to the hospital to have his eye socket checked.
Oleksandr Usyk retained his undefeated record of 19-0, with all three judges awarding him scores of 117-112, 116-112, and 115-113.
In a post-match interview after celebrating his victory, Usyk said — "This means a lot for me. The fight went the way I expected it to go. There were moments when Anthony pushed me hard, but it was nothing special. I had no objective to knock him out because my corner pushed me not to do that. In the beginning, I tried to hit him hard, but then I stuck to my job."
Anthony Joshua also made a statement after the match, insisting he could beat Usyk, in his words — "I'm just looking to go in there improved, stronger, smarter and I believe I'll get a good win in the next fight because of what I learnt in this one. I'm a quick learner, and we'll bounce back."
Note:
• A rematch has been confirmed to take place in 2022.
• Usyk landed more punches than Joshua, with a count of 148–123, by CompuBox.
• Joshua's right eye had swollen by the end of the 10th round.
• Usyk is the only boxer to hit Joshua that much.
• Usyk ended the match with a total of 29 punches in the 12th round
• Joshua is 31 years of age
• Usyk is 34 years of age