LIVE: Anthony Joshua looks to avenge his one-sided defeat to Oleksandr Usyk in a career-defining rematch, with the winner likely squaring off against Tyson Fury next… but first it’s Callum Smith and Hrgovic vs Zhang on the undercard
Follow Sportsmail’s live blog for the crunch rematch between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk.
Host commentator
Our next prediction of the night comes from Deontay Wilder. Here’s what he had to say.
‘My totally honest opinion is that it’s going to depend on the fighters,’ Wilder explained during an appearance on the PBC Podcast.
‘A lot of time has passed and there’s been a lot of time given to strategise for the second time around. They say when you fight a person you know him a little bit better the second time, even a little bit more the third.
‘It’s all going to be up to those guys. My heart says Usyk easily, he’s got the momentum now and how he was able to do it the last time around. But this is boxing at the end of the day and you just never know how it’s going to to end up panned out until the end of it.
‘I wish them all the best of luck and I hope they get out of the ring just like they came in; safe and sound.’
What a start from both fighters! They both eat big shots within the first minute of the fight, but it’s home favourite Almaayouf who has significant marking on his nose early on.
Good work from Almaayouf, who makes Alatorre pay as he lunged in a little too eagerly.
And that’s even better! Almaayouf knocks Alatorre to the canvas with a huge one-two, straight down the pipe!
Almaayouf follows it up with a succession of punches, and Alatorre goes down again. Fight over!
Next in the ring tonight are Ziyad Almaayouf and Jose Alatorre in the super-lightweight division.
We don’t know too much about either fighter, with both making their professional debuts.
What we do know, though, is that much is expected of the Saudi Arabian Almaayouf, who the crowd are backing heavily!
Four rounds of action await!
Ramla Ali scores a ๐๐๐๐ knockout to mark a historic occasion! ๐๐#UsykJoshua2 pic.twitter.com/KfLp8aZyAW
Sportsmail sat down with Joshua’s camp-mate Frazer Clarke earlier in the week, and the heavyweight gave some fascinating insight into AJ’s mindset.
Clarke revealed he’s watched Joshua ‘gasping for air’ during a brutal camp, having recognised he wasn’t fit enough in the first fight.
He also revealed Joshua has been to ‘dark places’ throughout, but insisted he is looking better than ever under Robert Garcia.
You can read more below.
Well, the first fight of the night didn’t last long!
Ramla Ali moves to 7-0 after landing a huge right hand flush on the chin of Nova.
Nova’s gumshield went flying out of her mouth as she went down, and the contest was over in a flash!
Wow! That was a statement!
So, up first in our live coverage tonight is Ramla Ali vs Crystal Garcia Nova!
It’s an historic bout, being the first-ever professional women’s fight to take place in Saudi Arabia, which Ali has spoken about with great price during the build-up.
The super-bantamweight clash will be contested over eight rounds, with the 6-0 Ali the overwhelming favourite to prevail.
Ali has an amazing story, having fled a war-torn Somalia before becoming the first Muslim fighter to win an English title as an amateur.
She is also a model, an activist, and has a big future in boxing!
As I said earlier, we’ll be bringing you the predictions from some of boxing’s biggest names throughout the evening.
This is what Tyson Fury has had to say:
‘Without trying to slate AJ or anything, because he has done well, he has had a great career, he doesn’t have the engine to box for 12 rounds,’ Fury said on Queensberry Promotions’ YouTube channel.
‘So unless he comes to Morecambe and lets me train him for this fight, I see another loss, to be fair. If not, he gets another loss on his record.
‘Unless Joshua gets his a*** up to Morecambe and lets me train him for this fight, Robert Garcia and ten men like him will not make him beat Oleksandr Usyk.’
Our live coverage will begin shortly, with Ramla Ali to get things going. Here is what’s coming up tonight.
Ramla Ali vs Crystal Garcia Nova
Ziyad Almaayouf vs Jose Alatorre
Badou Jack vs Richard Rivera
Callum Smith v Mathieu Bauderlique
Filip Hrgovic v Zhilei Zhang
Oleksandr Usyk vs Anthony Joshua
As the main event approaches, the key question is how both fighters will approach the rematch, and also, of course, who will come out on top.
Sportsmail spoke to renowned trainer Dave Coldwell – the mastermind behind Tony Bellew’s thoroughly competitive performance against Usyk – earlier in the week.
Coldwell insisted Joshua must attack the body, and importantly he insisted Joshua must not get flustered when he’s under threat.
He compared Usyk’s relentless pressure to ‘water-torture’, but insisted Joshua must impose himself and up the aggression this time.
Read more below…
๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฃ
Just listen to Andrew Tabiti's HEAVY shots ๐๐ค#UsykJoshua2 pic.twitter.com/gsWTFHDuyQ
Another result to bring you, as Andrew Tabiti stops James Wilson, in what was an impressive performance from the former.
Tabiti had Wilson down and hurt in the fifth round, and though Wilson survived to hear the bell, his corner then threw in the towel. A smart decision.
We’ve got some cracking undercard fights to come, but the eagerly-anticipated rematch between Usyk and Joshua is now not too far away!
Can Usyk claim another stunning win and cement his place as perhaps the sport’s pound-for-pound best?
Or will Joshua get his revenge, become a three-time heavyweight champion, and get back on the journey to undisputed?
We’ll find out soon!
๐ #UsykJoshua2 ๐ pic.twitter.com/AWKtxoRB6H
Our columnist Johnny Nelson, of course a former cruiserweight world champion, has given his thoughts ahead of tonight’s main event.
Nelson insists Joshua needs to impose himself early on, in what he predicts will be a much more explosive fight than their first encounter last year.
The Briton is concerned about Joshua’s gas tank, though, and believes Usyk will come on strong in the second half of the fight should he get there.
You can read his full thoughts below…
Next up in the ring is Britain’s James Wilson, as he takes on Andrew Tabiti in the heavyweight division.
We’ll bring the result after the fight, as we continue our build-up to Usyk vs Joshua.
"I tried to look a bit too sexy at times!" ๐ @BenGWhittaker has a second win under his belt ๐ช#UsykJoshua2 | @Boxxer pic.twitter.com/HKeyLU4ESZ
A quick update to bring you, as Britain’s Ben Whittaker defeats Petar Nosic via unanimous decision.
The light-heavyweight – who significantly upped the level of opposition after making his pro debut last month – moves to 2-0.
He takes it on all three judges’ scorecards. A good outing.
‘When Usyk beat me he became a pound-for-pound great,’ Joshua said earlier this week. ‘So what happens if I win here on Saturday night? Do I become a pound-for-pound great?’
It’s an interesting question. Joshua has already achieved so much, being an Olympic gold medallist and two-time heavyweight champion.
But, in beating Usyk tonight, he would do what only four others have done in the past: become a three-time heavyweight champion, joining the likes of Ali and Lewis.
Read what our reporter, Jeff Powell, who we’ll hear from throughout the night, had to say.
We were all expecting Usyk to come in heavier than their first fight, but he surprised us by weighing in almost exactly the same on Friday.
Usyk, who claimed a stunning unanimous decision victory over the Briton last September, clocked in at 221.5lbs ahead of his fourth outing in the heavyweight division.
Joshua, who is looking to regain the IBF, WBA and WBO belts that were ripped away from him in Tottenham last year, weighed-in at 244.5lbs.
Throughout the build-up to tonight’s main event I’ll be bringing you some predictions from the big names in boxing, starting with Mike Tyson and Dillian Whyte.
Tyson:
‘It’s going to be hard to beat him,’ Tyson said during an interview with Mario Lopez on Instagram Live, as reported by The Mirror. ‘It’s going to be hard to beat Usyk because he’s fast and he out-punches you with his jab.
‘Joshua needs to learn to get away from his jab because that’s the one thing he couldn’t handle – his jab and his movement, he was too fast for Joshua.
‘So Joshua has to put a lot of pressure on him and keep that going all night. He’s a powerful puncher but he’s got to be active against a guy like that.
‘He moves too much, his jab is educated and [Joshua needs to] just outsmart the guy.’
Whyte:
‘I believe if Joshua revisits that aggression he had for me he does a much better job and probably beats Usyk and knocks him out this time.
‘Me and him are similar in a lot of ways, we come forward and throw a lot of punches, are aggressive and enforce ourselves on our opponents, I think they’ll be trying to get him back to that.’
The fight, which will be a 12-round contest, will be broadcast live on Sky Sports Box Office.
It will cost a total of £26.95 for those in the UK, and €31.95 for Republic of Ireland customers.
For those who want to stream the fight, you will be able to do so on the Sky Sports Box Office app and website, while repeat showings will take place at 8am and 3pm on Sunday.
Of course, you can also just stick with us!
Much is expected of Ben Whittaker, who made his debut last month as he stopped Greg O’Neill.
The Olympic silver medallist is quickly back out, this time against 6-0 Petar Nosic.
The light-heavyweight is signed to Anthony Joshua’s 258 Management and will be looking to make an impression tonight.
We’ll bring you the result after the fight.
Of course, Joshua and Usyk take centre-stage tonight, but there’s also an abundance of action on the undercard.
The main card is as followed:
We’ll begin our live coverage when the televised card starts, but the action is underway in Jeddah, with YouTube star Money Kicks tasting defeat in his professional debut against Traycho Georgiev.
You may be thinking Money Kicks sounds familiar, and it’s because he was meant to fight Floyd Mayweather earlier this year! I don’t think that would have gone too well for him…
He fell to a split decision defeat this afternoon.
Since then, Ukrainian Daniel Lapin has just beaten Jozef Jurko on points.
A huge night of boxing action is upon us, as Anthony Joshua looks to avenge his one-sided unanimous decision defeat to Oleksandr Usyk last year.
The heavyweight protagonists go head-to-head once more, this time in Saudi Arabia, with the winner likely to face Tyson Fury next in a huge undisputed showdown – regardless of his retirement claims.
It’s not just the IBF, WBO and WBA heavyweight titles on the line, with Fury’s recently vacated Ring Magazine belt also up for grabs.
Usyk, 35, is the overwhelming favourite, having breezed to victory in Tottenham last September, while Joshua will have to be significantly more aggressive tonight.
Don’t go anywhere as we build towards the main event, with a number of cracking fights to come on the undercard.
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