Oleksandr Usyk Shocked Anthony Joshua Via Unanimous Decision To Become Boxing’s World Heavyweight Champion

Oleksandr Usyk maintained his unblemished professional record on Saturday en route to winning the WBA (Super), IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles. Usyk entered Saturday’s bout against Anthony Joshua as a heavy underdog, but by the time the judges announced their decisions following 12 rounds of action, the Ukranian found himself the winner by unanimous decision.

Usyk — who was previously recognized as the world champion at the cruiserweight division by WBA (Super), WBC, IBF, WBO, and The Ring — handed Joshua his first defeat on British soil in front of the crowd at London’s Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The judges scored the fight 117-112, 116-112, and 115-113 in favor of the new champion.

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While the cards showed a one-sided fight, Usyk nonetheless tried to send the fans home with a knockout in the bout’s final moments.

On the whole, Usyk landed 148 punches to Joshua’s 123, something that was mixed with being far more accurate — the Ukranian landed 28 percent of all punches he threw, while the Englishman landed 19 percent. That was particularly the case with power punches, as Usyk landed 96-of-220 (44 percent) and Joshua landed 71-of-214 (33 percent). Usyk entered the evening a +220 underdog, while Joshua was viewed as a -270 favorite.

Now, the eyes of the boxing world turn to Las Vegas, where Tyson Fury will put his WBC and The Ring heavyweight titles on the line in his third fight against Deontay Wilder. Fury was slated to take on Joshua in a pair of bouts to unify the world heavyweight titles, but those plans were postponed when an arbiter determined Fury was contractually obligated to fight Wilder once again.