Gvozdik weighed up Usik's chances against Joshua

Former world light heavyweight champion Oleksandr Gvozdyk shared his expectations of the upcoming fight between WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and mandatory WBO title challenger Oleksandr Usik. According to the Ukrainian, the slight favourite ahead of the meeting is the Briton.

"I don't think it's hard for Usik to be in the super heavyweight division - he's gained the weight, let's say, naturally, even you can see that there's no pharma support. As a cruiser he used to put on weight. Now - he's gained muscle mass, so I don't think he'll be experiencing any discomfort.

I've been looking at how the bookies rate the fight. I'll tell you from my own experience. I've sparred with both big guys and little guys. I've given the big guys a lot of trouble. There were small sparring partners - the guys who boxed in the weight of 67.7 kg, who were fast, athletic, and I have already had some difficulties with them. But this is sparring, we were boxing with big gloves and protection. The main trump card of the heavy weights is the power and strength of the punch. I felt it in the big padded gloves. But how will it be in the ring in 10 ounce gloves and taping.

I'm really rooting for Sasha and I really want him to win. But if you look at the reality, I reckon before the fight the odds are 55 to 45 in Joshua's favour. You know the famous saying that a good big boxer will always beat a good small boxer. Of course, not always, but he has a better chance.

Joshua has never yet met a boxer like Usik. Sasha has never yet boxed a fighter like Joshua. Yes, there was Chisora, a tough boxer, but a middleweight. Plus, he's shorter than Usik. So far, it's hard to predict how events will unfold, given that Joshua not only hits hard, but he's even taller than Sasha," Gvozdik quotes "SportArena".

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