Unified World Heavyweight Champion Oleksandr Usyk remembered the ninth round of the rematch with Anthony Joshuawhen he was on the verge of falling.
“At that moment, I thought that if I fall now - that’s it, the finale, then this emotion, which the guys in the hospital asked me about, will not be fulfilled. Many of them, too, could fall emotionally. I told myself that I need to answer. It is much more difficult for them than for me in the ring. They fly to me in gloves, and there, in the trench, a shell flies that takes life.
When I sat down, Yuri Ivanovich began to say something to me. I say stop. I closed my eyes and just read "Our Father", "Symbol of Faith", started reading the 90th psalm and finished it already in the ring.
10th and 11th round - this Phoenix burned down and was reborn. I defeated myself, defeated all those who wanted me to give up, said, “Enough, it's hard. Well, it didn't work out. I wanted to do everything, but I didn't succeed." So, not all. Here I defeated not only myself, but also these: "It will fall now." Didn't fall. Although I don't think about them at all. Most of all, at that time, I thought that in two or three days I would see my children, ”Usyk said in the second issue of the two-part film The Art of Boxing, dedicated to his confrontation with the Briton.
