Ward: "Joshua was a pleasant surprise in his rematch with Usyk"

Andre Ward
Andre Ward

Former world champion and now TV expert Andre Ward said that the victory of WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles holder Alexander Usyk over Anthony Joshua was not a surprise for him, but the British boxer still pleasantly surprised him with his actions.

"The fight turned out just the way I thought it would. Usyk's IQ was too much for Anthony Joshua. I was pleasantly surprised that Anthony looked a little better. You could see that he was thinking in a positive way. At the beginning of the fight you could see him trying to hold his ground and be the bigger guy. I'm sure his new coach Robert Garcia and the new team were trying to implement that, to remind Joshua of that.

You can't box with a great boxer. You have to be a bigger guy and try to follow the script. You saw him attack the body. You don't usually see that from Anthony Joshua very often," Ward said in an interview with YouTube channel Nayem Shikdar.

Recall that on the night of August 21, Joshua lost to Usyk in a rematch by split decision.