Joshua vs. Usyk

The official Tapology discussion thread for the event!

Ahh, the other classic.  Man on the street claims Professional Fighter is a chicken **** who ducks opponents!!! Haha 

@Mikey you're not earnestly saying that doesn't happen in Boxing, right? That's par for the course. Not that Joshua alone is guilty of it. I'd struggle to think of any fighter who hasn't done it. The only person who comes to mind is Kell Brook. Who is a fookin' Legend.

What? Am I honesty saying that I think it's stupid AF for members of the public to claim that professional fighters, people who have spent most of their lives training to fights, are scared. Yes, I think that's some of the dumbest **** fans say!

Now, does politics, promoters, TV networks, agents get in the way of making fights? 100% they do. So if you want to call that ducking, you'd be wrong, but I understand.
If it came down to the actual fighters. I think they'd fight pretty much anyone, anytime, anywhere. 

Fighters are a different breed. They are not wired up like normal people. They are not scared 

And, by the way, I'm not a big fan of Joshua. I'm probably picking Usyk to beat him!
I'm still able to give him credit for what he has done in his career is all 

LMAO sticks and stones broseph, 

@Mikey well yeah they're not scared in a physical sense, obviously. But being afraid of getting beaten up and being afraid of losing aren't the same thing.  Boxers pick cherries worse than any other group of combat athletes going. It's not that they're afraid of physical harm, it's about their records and careers. We both know that if a fighter gets a really bad ********ing in Boxing that can be the end of them, and if they lose their stock sinks and they make less money to take on the same level of risk. I don't even really blame them. I'd do it. But it result in a big pageantry of fights nobody asked for.

Few would argue that Wilder isn't a more dangerous opponent than Povetkin was for Joshua. None that it wouldn't have been much more exciting.That's kind of the point I'm making. But yes I take your point, and it is ridiculous when fans say things like 'so and so is a ***** blah blah blah' as though whoever that is wouldn't just send them to the boneyard with one hook.

* Edited at 09.22.2021, 6:53 PM ET *

I just don't know why Prodan is that big of an underdog against Marku, i know that Marku is big UK prospect but still he was dropped before and has one draw against some jamie stewart, he was robbed but still??

* Edited at 09.23.2021, 1:58 AM ET *

Joshua vs. Usyk
Anthony Joshua, TKO, R7
I don't know who's better but Joshua is cute and Usyk is ugly and beauty always kills the beast 😜

Joshua vs. Usyk
Anthony Joshua, TKO, R11
Joshua is gonna need extra arms to hold all these ****** belts

Ousley vs. Baysangurov
Khasan Baysangurov, TKO, R3
Ukrainians, man.

Hahahhahaha picking a boxer based on there looks is a new one :>.
Back in the day fury made some very unrepeatable comments how he was attracted to AJ.
I love this forum such fun and funny comments, threads and rabbit trails.
Last year Ukraine won WSM this year Heavy weight Boxing maybe next year bobsledding too bad they can't get John Candy to coach them.  

Joshua vs. Usyk
Oleksandr Usyk, DEC
While this is a bit of an emotional pick because I want Usyk to win, I also think it might actually happen... hear me out. This Joshua vs. Fury fight seems to be cursed like the Khabib vs. Tony Ferguson fight. The fight that was never meant to be, but one that we all wanna see. First, Joshua was forced to fight Pulev, and Tyson had to get through Otto Wallin and Wilder a second time. And now, Wilder messed it up again. If this fight is in fact cursed, either Wilder or Usyk would have to win in order for the Joshua/Fury fight not to happen next. And I mean we all know what's gonna happen in Fury vs. Wilder 3... so out of the 2, I'm betting Usyk takes this upset.

Bc there's no money at Cruiser

How tall is Usyk?  I can see this being a reach advantage loss, despite how good peopel say he is.

Okolie vs. Prasovic
Lawrence Okolie, TKO, R8
Saucey!! It's kind of amazing the difference in Okolie over the last few years. Just 2 years ago he was involved in 1 of the worst fights ever on the Joshua Povetkin undercard, he was deducted 3 points for constant grabbing/hugging /holding! He also had a stinker as headliner vs Chamberlain. He was such an awkward boxer, always getting involved in long cuddling sessions!!! But, that's all in the past it seems. His last few performances have been excellent. Topped off by destroying WBO Champ and long time top 5 Cruiserweight Glowacki. Seems like Okolie has figured out how to use his reach and has developed a tasty 1,2. That's the combination I expect to put Prasovic away. As for Prasovic I don't know much about him. Another 1 of these random Eastern Europeans who somehow end up as mandatory for a World Title??? He does have a half decent win over Puhalo, but to be honest he's no business fighting for a World Title. Hopefully Okolie looks for unifications ASAP. There's a decent top 6 or so Cruiserweights at the moment. Hopefully they face each other. Not holding out too much hope tho!!!

Prodan vs. Marku
Maxim Prodan, DEC
I don't know what anyone sees in Marku???

Smith vs. Castillo
Callum Smith, TKO, R8
I wonder how the Canelo loss affects Callum??? I mean he was absolutely schooled and shown to be levels below Canelo. That's gonna be hard for a man who was genuinely rated as the no. 1 in the world. To think you're the best only to find out there's levels above! I like the move up in weight and, of course Castillo is here for a hiding. Would love to see an aggressive Callum here and really go for the stoppage

Anthony Joshua   vs.   Oleksandr Usyk

The sensible pick here is Joshua for a few reasons. Not least of which because this is a matchroom event going down on UK soil and if this is anything less than a patently obvious one-sided knockdown festival or KO for Usyk he is definitely going to get card-****d by the judges and will not win.

 But I am not here to make sensible picks. I am here to talk about why Joshua sucks, and pick against him regardless of whether it makes sense to do so or not.

Usyk is great, but he's a cruiserweight in the truest of the term. The good news is he showed he can eat a punch at HW. That is also the bad news though. Because although I don't think Joshua punches harder than Chisora, he's definitely a roundly better boxer, and there's little doubt he has a much better probability of landing than him. I'm not going to go as far as to say Chisora is a bum but if you're losing to the Whytes of the world it's safe to say you're not top 5 creme de la creme. That's the bear case for Usyk.

The Bull case is that for the first time in a long  time Joshua is going to be forced to fight, and he won't be able to prance around behind his jab as he did per Ruiz 2. Usyk is too good at range, too high output. Joshua will have to cross space and take risks if he wants to land anything  meaningful and I have no doubt Usyk can catch him coming in. Whether or not he has the stopping power for it to really matter at HW I have no idea. But I haven't forgotten how old man Klitschko put Joshua on ***** street either, so I assume Usyk can do it too.

I think Usyk has a real shot here but he's gonna have to drag it out. And I'll never underestimate Joshua's ability **** things up.

Usyk, KO/TKO.

Joshua vs. Usyk
Anthony Joshua, DEC
Hoping this comes in as I've got £25 on it at 3/1. My main basis behind it is simply that I feel that Usyk will be too undersized to really trouble Joshua in terms of punching power but he will certainly be a tricky customer for him so I can't see Usyk getting KO'd himself.

Prodan vs. Marku
Maxim Prodan, TKO, R8
I'll admit that I'm a Florian Marku fan simply because I find him exciting to watch but I feel he's way out of his depth here.

Got AJ but want Usyk to get the upset

Uzy is 6 2 to 6 3 def reach dissadvantage.

Usyk is really dangerous, i dont think Joshua takes his power

he has got the ko power to take out joshua, he took out dillian whyte, with a sneaky uppercut. he slept him real bad