Boxing lost its biggest fight in Fury-Joshua, but gained a star in Oleksandr Usyk
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Mike CoppingerESPN
After all of the talk about a fight between Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, you can kiss it goodbye. Even if the bout eventually happens, it will never be the mega fight it should have been.
Not after Oleksandr Usyk dominated Joshua on Saturday to win the unified heavyweight championship — handing AJ his second career loss with a brilliant performance inside of London’s Tottenham Stadium in front of more than 66,000 fans. Not after Usyk seemed to be on the brink of stopping Joshua at the end of the fight, which he could have if Joshua wasn’t saved by the final bell.
This was a star-making performance for the Ukrainian. The 34-year-old Usyk answered any and all doubts, showing heavyweight pop, a heavyweight chin and incredible boxing ability. Even as boxing lost its biggest fight before it could happen, the heavyweight division gained a new star on Saturday.
If we’re ever going to see a Super Bowl-type heavyweight championship fight featuring Fury and Joshua, AJ will have to score revenge on Usyk the same way he avenged his loss to Andy Ruiz Jr.
Only I can’t see it happening. Joshua will have an opportunity for redemption — there is a rematch clause in the contract that must be activated within 30 days. However, if he does indeed do that, Usyk might finish him the second time around. Unlike Ruiz, Usyk won’t come into fight night out of shape. And there was nothing fluky about this win.
This was boxing in its finest from Usyk, who beat Joshua to the punch, and somehow, was the most heavy-handed fighter in the ring despite being the far smaller man. Usyk was dominant at cruiserweight, becoming the undisputed champion at 200 pounds, but he looked shaky in his early days at heavyweight, especially his second bout in the division — a hard fought win over Derek Chisora in October.
On Saturday, Usyk was anything but shaky. He was light on his feet and used plenty of angles. He hammered Joshua with overhand lefts and double jabs. Joshua’s right eye was badly damaged, and he took a long time to get off the stool after the fight. His promoter, Eddie Hearn, believes Joshua’s eye socket could be seriously damaged.
“I don’t think it was a great performance from AJ,” Hearn said. “He looked tired as the fight went on. … I think the rematch is very tough, but there’s absolutely nowhere to hide.”
Joshua said before the fight that he would exercise the rematch clause if he lost, just like he did when he lost to Ruiz. Hearn said after the bout that he’s confident Joshua will still want the rematch, despite being dominant from bell to bell.
What’s more clear: it’s hard to see Joshua ever returning to his post as one of the two best heavyweights in the world. It was surprising to see AJ come in light (for him) at 240 pounds and attempt to outbox Usyk. That was never going to happen. And mentally, he was a beaten man as he sat on his stool. Ever since he was stopped by Ruiz, it’s been apparent his punch resistance — and Joshua’s confidence in his own chin — is suspect at best.
The heavyweight champions at the moment are Fury and Usyk. Fury meets Deontay Wilder for a third time next month, and another win was supposed to set him up for a high-stakes showdown with Joshua in Saudi Arabia in 2022 that would net both boxers nine-figure paydays.
With Joshua upended, maybe Fury turns to fellow Brit Dillian Whyte, who’s been waiting for his crack at the WBC heavyweight title for years. That’s assuming, of course, that Furybeats Wilder again.
Usyk’s path is more clear. He’s now one of the three best pound-for-pound boxers in the world, along with Canelo Alvarez and Terence Crawford, and the second best heavyweight in boxing after Fury.
As Usyk stakes his claim to the No. 2 spot in the heavyweight division, the best fight for him, the division and perhaps the sport as a whole is a matchup with the winner of Fury-Wilder III.
Knight’s Choice has won the 2024 Melbourne Cup, defeating Warp Speed and Okita Soushi in a thrilling finish at Flemington on Tuesday afternoon.
The massive outsider saluted for Irish-born jockey Robbie Dolan, who claimed victory in what was his first ever ride in the “race that stops a nation”.
In what was a gripping 164th staging of Australia’s most-watched thoroughbred race, Knight’s Choice proved too strong in a sprint to the finish, pulling over the top of Okita Soushi and holding off Warp Speed by the barest of margins.
Trained by John Symons and Sheila Laxon on the Sunshine Coast, Knight’s Choice was well down the betting across all markets. It was Laxon’s second Melbourne Cup triumph after she trained Ethereal to victory 23 years ago.
“This is the pinnacle of all pinnacles, this is the Melbourne Cup,” Symons said.
Zardozi rounded out the first four.
As the field approached the final few hundred metres it appeared as though Jamie Kah, aboard Okita Soushi, would become just the second woman to ride the winner in the Melbourne Cup. But Okita Soushi was swallowed up as the winning post neared, with Knight’s Choice beating Warp Speed to the line after a peach of a ride from Dolan.
“We’ll be singing tonight after a few beers,” Dolan, who was a contestant on the 2022 edition of “The Voice”, told Channel 9.
“It is amazing and a lot of people doubted this little horse. Doubt me now.”
Laxon was more than happy with the ride, with Dolan threading his way through the field from near last on the bend.
“He started the race, and he knew how to ride him. We didn’t give him instructions, he knew what to do,” she said.
“I love it being down for the Australians. The Australian horse has done it, and Robbie is Australian now as well, so I’m thrilled to win the Cup, and it is the people’s Cup, and that’s what it is all about.”
Knight’s Choice is just the sixth Australian-bred horse to win since 1993, and the first since Vow and Declare back in 2019.
The five-year-old gelding carried only 51kg to victory and was making its first start over the 3200m trip. It had most recently come off a fifth-placed finish in the Bendigo Cup, but had showed sparing little form this preparation otherwise.
“I watched every Melbourne Cup for the last 40 years. I thought my best chance was to get him to stay the trip and, hopefully, he can run home and do the quick sectionals he can on a good track and he proved everybody wrong,” Dolan said.
MILWAUKEE — The Brewers‘ starting rotation could have a new look next season with right-handers Frankie Montas and Colin Rea heading into free agency.
The Brewers announced Monday that Montas had declined his part of a $20 million mutual option for 2025. The Brewers turned down the $5.5 million club option on Rea’s contract.
Montas receives a $2 million buyout and Rea gets a $1 million buyout.
In other moves Monday, right-hander Kevin Herget was claimed off waivers by the New York Mets, and left-hander Rob Zastryzny was claimed off waivers by the Chicago Cubs. First baseman Jake Bauers and right-hander Bryse Wilson cleared waivers and were sent outright to Triple-A Nashville.
Montas, 31, had a combined 7-11 record with a 4.84 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 150⅔ innings in 30 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and Brewers this season. He was 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, who acquired him just before the trade deadline.
Rea, 34, was 12-6 with a 4.28 ERA this season in 32 appearances, including 27 starts. He struck out 135 in 167⅔ innings. Rea had an 8.31 ERA in September and was left off the Brewers’ NL Wild Card Series roster.
Herget, 33, had no record with one save and a 1.59 ERA in seven appearances with Milwaukee this year. He was 5-1 with four saves and a 2.27 ERA in 38 relief outings with Triple-A Nashville.
Zastryzny, 32, was 1-0 with a 1.17 ERA in nine appearances with Milwaukee. He pitched in 30 games with Nashville and went 4-0 with a 3.03 ERA.
The 29-year-old Bauers batted .199 with a .301 on-base percentage, 12 homers and 43 RBIs in 116 games this season. He also hit a seventh-inning homer that broke a scoreless tie in the decisive Game 3 of the Wild Card Series with the Mets, who rallied in the ninth to win 4-2.
Wilson, who turns 27 on Dec. 20, went 5-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 34 appearances, including nine starts.
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