Boxing
Eddie Hearn: Anthony Joshua will find Oleksandr Usyk rematch easier
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Eddie Hearn believes that Anthony Joshua will find any rematch with Oleksandr Usyk an easier proposition.
Speaking on the DAZN Boxing Show, Hearn pointed out a couple of areas of weakness for Joshua during his disappointing defeat on Saturday night.
“I always said leading up to the fight, the danger in this fight is over complicating the fight, and AJ definitely over complicated. B he's very complicated to fight, Usyk, but that's why you need to almost simplify things as well.
“There are a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes all around and they need to be addressed and they need to be dealt with because as I said to him a minute ago, you cannot beat Usyk boxing like that. It's almost impossible. He's tried to outbox Usyk. And that's the biggest mistake you can ever make.”
The Matchroom promoter also suggested that Joshua did not take advantage of his power advantage when he had the chance during the bout.
“AJ had a couple of great shots. One huge left hook. And there were times when AJ hit Usyk, and you can see the look on their faces. If you say wow, that wasn't even a power punch. And you've got the guy whose eyes are popping out of his head... AJ would hit into the body. The arms would lower. We know you got to back him up.
“But you can't just say he just didn't do it. It was the quality of Usyk, the quality of Usyk's feet, the quality of Usyk's faints, quality of the mental warfare as well, that maybe stopped him from doing that.”
Because of an awareness of what went wrong, however, Hearn predicted: “The rematch will be easier. Not that doesn't necessarily mean the fight will be easier. But mentally, the rematch will be easier because he knows exactly what he has to do.”
