Eddie Hearn believes that Anthony Joshua may have made a mistake by trying to match Oleksandr Usyk’s superior technical approach.
Usyk’s wealth of amateur experience and his formative years in the cruiserweight division left him as one of the best technical fighters of any weight, and certainly in the heavyweight division.
The Ukrainian won Joshua’s IBF, WBA and WBO belts at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a hugely impressive display, and speaking after the fight, Joshua’s promoter Hearn suggested the possible reasons for the upset.
“I think a number of things,” Hearn began. “We talked about overthinking it and getting too technical. He tried to do that with arguably one of the top pound-for-pound technical fighters in the world. Tonight, Oleksandr Usyk was fantastic. I don’t think it was a great performance from AJ, when he looks back. But was that the brilliance of Oleksandr Usyk?
“[Joshua] looked tired as the fight went on. He looked like he lost his power a little bit.
“Again, was that what Tony Bellew talked about, that mental fatigue of Usyk’s work? Usyk was busier than I expected him to be. I thought he had the perfect game plan and tonight, you know, he makes history as the unified heavyweight world champion. You have to take your hat off to him. It’s sport, and the better man won tonight.”