On Saturday, August 20, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the most important boxing match of the year will take place - a rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua. A year ago, in London, ...
About the rematch with Joshua: The previous fight with Anthony Joshua showed that I can fight at heavyweight and I can win if, like then, I show good and high-quality boxing. After the first fight, we learned a lot about Anthony, his style and behavior. My coach watched our first fight several times and is still watching. Rest assured, we have developed some combinations that we will use in the rematch, but for now I cannot reveal all the secrets.
About the place of battle: The fight will take place in Saudi Arabia, although I must admit that I like London. This is a happy place for me. I boxed there twice and, thank God, won twice. But, frankly, I don't care where I fight, I don't care that I will perform in front of a new audience, in a new place. I just go out and do my thing. Am I sure that I will win? I am confident in what I am doing. I am sure that I did my job one hundred percent. Victory from God.
About feelings after the first fight with Joshua: First of all, great joy and a feeling that everything is fine. That I put in a lot of hard work and it paid off. Just joy and gratitude to God for the strength He gives me every day. It's impossible to put into words. To experience such feelings, you must at least once enter the ring, or do something very difficult for yourself. Many experts say that if the fight had lasted another 30 seconds, or even a minute longer, Joshua would have fallen. These are just guesses, it was the way it was, and not otherwise. I do not think about it.
About the most important achievement: I consider Olympic gold the greatest achievement in my career. At the moment, there is nothing more valuable to me. It cannot be compared with the belts in the first heavyweight and super heavyweight. Maybe if I unify all the heavyweight belts, I'll think about which one is better. I think that every boxer would like to compete in the heavyweight division. When I fought in the cruiserweight, I told myself that if I unified all the titles, I would go to the "royal" category. I kept my word.
About the most difficult opponent in his career: At the moment I am the most difficult opponent for myself. Every day I force myself to do what I don't want to do. You need to get up in the morning, play sports, run, swim, ride a bike. I work a lot. But it's always easier to do what you really like.
On possible fights with Tyson Fury or Canelo Alvarez: I don't know if Tyson Fury left or not, that's his business. I think that such a fight is possible. To fight Canelo, I would have to lose 12 kg. It would be an odd fight. First, I have to deal with heavyweight, and then it will be possible to organize such fights. A possible duel with Alvarez will probably be associated with large finances, so I also do not rule out such a "strange" fight.
Watch this story: Helwani on Usyk vs. Tyson Fury rematch: "I'm not ready to throw Tyson off my game yet"
About other sports: What if not boxing? I love football. I would like to play at a professional level for the English team and for the Ukrainian national team!