Anthony Joshua's long-awaited battle with Tyson Fury continues to just be clickbait worthy and a miserable read for boxing fans, as the lineal heavyweight champion must clash with Deontay Wilder once more on October 9th, while Joshua now faces one of boxing's most feared names, Oleksandr Usyk.
The Brit enters the bout as the 4/11 favourite, which puts him at the lowest he has been heading into a title-defending bout since he was matched up against Wladimir Klitschko in 2017 - Joshua was 4/7 to beat Andy Ruiz in the rematch, where he reclaimed his belts.
If Joshua is to win the fight, you would expect it to be via TKO/KO (4/5), as Usyk is three inches smaller, significantly less powerful, not much of a 'toe-to-toe' fighter, and will also come into the fight weighing much less. The defending champion currently boasts 22 of his 24 wins in this manner, with only the Ruiz rematch and a bout with Joseph Parker going the distance.
Joshua is one of the most lethal finishers out there, as he proved in his last fight with Kubrat Pulev. He managed to floor the Bulgarian twice in the third before finishing him in style in the ninth round, but despite taking a further six rounds to do the business, the Englishman's victory was never in doubt.
What will benefit Joshua more than anything here is his superior athletic and physical capabilities. And, although the Ukrainian, matrix-esque brilliance of Uysk shines through in each of his unbeaten bouts, the champion can cancel this out with his superior reach, power, and size.
We expect Uysk will have success at times. Joshua has proven in many bouts down the years that when push comes to shove, he can stumble. A superior brain and fighting intelligence is the way to defeat the Englishman, as proven in his tough bouts with Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin, who both found success with specific punches (the one-two straight for Klitschko and the left hook for Povetkin)
With this in mind, Joshua's overall heavyweight nature should be too much for a man that has perfected his trade in the cruiserweight division since turning professional, with only Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora fighting him at heavyweight thus far.
Our Anthony Joshua v Oleksandr Usyk prediction and our main Anthony Joshua v Oleksandr Usyk tip is for the Brit to get the job done inside six rounds because the longer the fight goes on, the more Uysk may get into his groove.