*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
We’ve been here before. Anthony Joshua loses his belts and all of a sudden we have a rematch in Saudi Arabia on our hands.
But the defeat to Oleksandr Usyk last year was not as much as a surprise as Joshua’s 2019 loss to Andy Ruiz. The unanimous decision at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was fancied to be a hard-fought win on the Watford boxer’s path to a unification fight with Tyson Fury but he found his Ukrainian opponent too hot to handle.
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Following The Gypsy King’s retirement, Joshua has had to settle for trying to win his belts back as Usyk puts the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO belts on the line when the two face off at the Jeddah Super Dome in August.
The 35-year-old Ukrainian southpaw is 19-0 in professional fights, while AJ’s record sits at 26-2 with those defeats to Ruiz and Usyk – but Joshua has only won two of his last four fights, going back three years. Usyk, meanwhile, is considered one of the best pound-for-pound boxers in the world after also winning world titles at cruiserweight level. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the heavyweight title bout…
Oleksandr Usyk v Anthony Joshua 2 date and start time
The heavyweight title bout is scheduled to take place on Saturday August 20. Pop that date in your diary. The two fighters are expected to do their ring walks at around 10pm.
Oleksandr Usyk v Anthony Joshua 2 undercard
Filip Hrgovic v Zhilei Zhang – IBF heavyweight world title final eliminator (12 rounds)
Callum Smith v Mathieu Bauderlique – WBC super-middleweight world title final eliminator (12 rounds)
Badou Jack v Richard Rivera – cruiserweight contest (10 rounds)
Ramla Ali v Crystal Garcia Nova – super-bantamweight contest (8 rounds)
Andrew Tabiti v James Wilson – heavyweight contest (8 rounds)
Ben Whittaker v Peter Nosic – light-heavyweight contest (6 rounds)
Daniel Lapin v Jozef Jurko – heavyweight contest (8 rounds)
Bader Alsamreen v Fuad Tarverdi – super-lightweight contest (6 rounds)
Ziyad Almaayouf v Jose Alatorre – super-lightweight contest (4 rounds)
MoneyKicks v Traycho Georgiev – welterweight contest (4 rounds)
The undercard is scheduled to get underway from 6pm BST.
Oleksandr Usyk v Anthony Joshua 2 odds
The Ukrainian is the early favourite in our betting markets, being backed by Paddy’s traders to repeat his September 2021 performance.
*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change
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