- Tim Burke
Heavyweight Boxing is Back
The Heavyweight division is back as the most exciting division in the sport of boxing. Last week, A star was born in Oleksandr Usyk The former undisputed cruiserweight champion now has three of the four heavyweight championship belts and is seeking to unify all the belts. He would be the first heavyweight since Lennox Lewis in 2000 to unify the division. However, he currently has to beat Anthony Joshua a second time. Despite being favored to win, Anthony Joshua is known to come back strong after facing adversity. He is the younger, stronger fighter and hurt Usyk quite a few times with only his jab. If he goes back to his roots of being an aggressive fighter who likes to turn boxing matches into street fights. I favor Anthony Joshua in the rematch. Do not skip this rematch.
On October 9th Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder will fight for the WBC heavyweight belt again. Fury knocked out Wilder in a lopsided fight in their second bout in early 2020. Despite Fury’s dominating win in their rematch, I can see him losing this fight. He was dropped twice in their first fight back in 2018. Wilder is definitely the more powerful puncher and seems to be on a mission to avenge the embarrassing 7th round TKO from last year. This fight is a pain in the neck for me. Fury vs Joshua was the bigger fight and was set to happen before an arbitrator ruled Fury is obligated to face Wilder for a third time. It feels like we know how this fight ends. However, boxing is exciting because it is unpredictable. One thing we know about Fury and Wilder fights, you do not know what could happen next. The winner of this fight will have to wait for the Joshua and Usyk rematch to try and unify all the belts. They would be expected to have Dillian Whye as their next opponent. He may become a mandatory challenger for the WBC belt if he wins his next fight on October 30th. Maybe he becomes the man who unifies the division?
One thing we know is these four fighters could be the next to make boxing history. Any of them could beat the other. Deontay Wilder is a knockout artist but definitely is the weakest technical boxer in the group. Oleksandr Usyk is a skilled fighter but is definitely the smallest and weakest puncher in the group. Tyson Fury is arguably the most skilled of the group. He is also the biggest. His story of becoming Heavyweight champion again after being out of the ring for three years due to severe depression is inspiring. He is the favorite to unify the belts. He seems unbeatable right now. However, his father John Fury is concerned that Tyson hangs around too many “yes men” due to his new fame. He believes his son is in danger of one day losing his perfect boxing record because of it. There is always Anthony Joshua. Despite recently losing his belts he has claimed he still wants to fight Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury with or without the belts. AJ only wants to fight the best of the best. Wilder has avoided Joshua for a longtime, Fury and Joshua had a potential to be the biggest fight of the century before it was called off. His mission has always been to unify the belts and he is as good as anyone in the division. Any of these fighters can beat the other. It is an exciting time to be a fan of boxing. It is no longer about Floyd Mayweather dodging his way to a perfect record. It is about fighting the best of the best and putting it all on the line again. Boxing is back thanks to Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder, Tyson Fury and Oleksandr Usyk.