Three years ago, the then-unified heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua suffered the first defeat of his professional career in a stunning upset loss at the hands of Andy Ruiz.
He immediately confirmed his desire to run it back, and despite many insisting – on account of the nature of the loss – that Joshua was irreparably damaged, I backed him to regain his belts for a couple of reasons.
He promptly did, comprehensively outboxing Ruiz over 12 rounds in Saudi Arabia.
Three fights on, Joshua finds himself in a similar position:
once more, he is bidding to regain the titles he lost in convincing fashion to a fighter many picked him to beat the first time around.
On Saturday night in Saudi Arabia, he will come face-to-face with Ukrainian pound-for-pound fighter and former unified cruiserweight champion Oleksandr Usyk for a second time.
This time, however, I am less enthusiastic about his chances of wresting the WBO, IBF and WBA belts back from Usyk’s grasp. For a couple of reasons, naturally.
