Oleksandr Usyk Unfazed by Anthony Joshua’s Promise to Be “More Aggressive and Dangerous” in the Rematch

A few days back, Anthony Joshua finally spoke out after his loss against the former undisputed cruiserweight champion, Oleksandr Usyk. After 12 rounds of technical dismantling and complete domination, the Ukrainian champion snatched Joshua’s heavyweight throne on September 25.

This was AJ’s second professional career loss and much like his first loss against Andy Ruiz, he is now looking to make major changes and come back smarter and stronger. The former two-time heavyweight champion has been making moves across the chessboard; he was recently even spotted at big gyms in the United States and it seems he is determined to take giant leaps to re-enter the win column.

Apart from just scanning through new gyms and trainers to partner with, AJ has also promised to double down on an aggressive and a much dangerous approach in the rematch early next year.

However, it seems Oleksandr Usyk simply does not care about any of that. He recently shared his thoughts on AJ’s plans for the rematch. His recent comment shows that he is unfazed and unmoved by AJ’s moves.

“He also promised to be more aggressive and dangerous in the rematch. If that is the case, great. I’d be glad to experience that side of Joshua. I am sure it will be another brilliant fight,” said Oleksandr Usyk.

Read More: Should Anthony Joshua Switch Trainers and Join Team Canelo?

Usyk clearly seems oddly calm about Joshua’s plans to be more aggressive in the second fight; it just makes one think if he has actually internalized the character traits of ‘the Joker’, who he dressed up as at the Joshua-Usyk press conference.

Oleksandr Usyk will not rest until he defeats Anthony Joshua again

What happened to Anthony Joshua on September 25, 2021, has happened once before on June 1, 2019. Much like how Joshua showed a uni-dimensional approach against Oleksandr Usyk, he pretty much did the exact same thing against Andy Ruiz Jr.

After defeating and defending against the likes of  Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker, and Alexander Povetkin, Joshua simply did not see a contender like Andy Ruiz as a real threat. As a result, he got walked down and dropped by the American in round 7.

It took AJ nearly two weeks to realize what he had exactly done wrong in the fight. Right away, he went back to the drawing board, kept on training, and finally felt prepared to regain his titles nearly 6 months after the first fight with Ruiz.

On the other hand, instead of coming back stronger, Andy Ruiz Jr. admittedly gained excess unhealthy weight. As a result, he proved to be slower and largely inactive in the rematch and lost by unanimous decision.

So, will history repeat itself this time around against Usyk? Perhaps not.

Oleksandr Usyk recently made it a point to highlight that he is not planning to revel in celebrations as Ruiz did. Instead, the father of three is spending time with his kids to make up for the lost time in training for the first Joshua bout.

He even pointed out that he has been keeping track of Joshua’s moves across different gyms in the US; however, he is not concerned about anything he does in the slightest.

“Of course I saw the videos because we are collecting all the information. But I don’t think anything about this because it’s Anthony’s business – let him do whatever he wants,” said Usyk.

How do you see the rematch playing out?