Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk LIVE REACTION: Rematch LATEST, AJ eye socket injury updates, champ Usyk flies home

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Oleksandr Usyk is so confident of giving Anthony Joshua another battering he is not fussed about delaying his undisputed shot.

The new champ said: “Oh cool, I get to beat up Anthony Joshua twice.

“I have three of the main belts and Tyson Fury has the fourth, at the moment.”

And AJ promoter Eddie Hearn confirmed the UK is leading the race to host the rematch.

The Matchroom Boxing chief said: “We will work together to maximise (the income), Ukraine is very unlikely. I think it will be international or the UK, I would think it would be in the UK.”

MIKE DROP

Mike Tyson said Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk 'had a bad day' and asked: 'Do you really think they could have beat me in my prime?'

He tweeted: "After watching the Joshua vs Usyk fight, maybe they had a bad day that night.

"From that performance do you really think they could have beat me in my prime?"

ED’S UP

Eddie Hearn admitted it was a 'terrible idea' for Anthony Joshua to try and outbox Oleksandr Usyk but said 'big changes' will be made.

Hearn said: "I don't know whether it was almost a rebellious thing where it's like, 'No, I'm going to go in there and outbox him'.

"Just a terrible idea, terrible idea. But don't forget, Usyk negates things that you want to try and do.

"So maybe he wanted to be a little bit more aggressive, wasn't able to at specific times because of the brilliance.

"I don't want to just say, 'Bad game plan, bad performance'. You've got to give unbelievable credit to Usyk, he's brilliant."

TAKING THE BIS

UFC legend Michael Bisping has slammed boxing judge Howard Foster for awarding Anthony Joshua the opening two rounds against Oleksandr Usyk.

Bisping said: "He should be held accountable for this.

"Explain why he scored it that way to his peers.

"No understandable reason then he should never judge again."

ON THE MONEY

Anthony Joshua could end up pocketing a massive £30million in defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

The 60,000-plus seater Spurs stadium sold out in just about 30 minutes - and could have done so three more times over.

If the average price of those seats is £250 then the standard gate alone may be as much as £15m.

And that is without totting up the 80 VIP hospitality boxes in the stadium that go for around £10,000 a pop and could coin in an extra £800k.

The Sky Sports Box Office Show was priced at £24.95 and promoter Eddie Hearn predicted it would sell 1.2m pay-per-views.

That equates to a conservative sum of over £40m - with the lion’s share going to AJ.

BRING IT ON

Oleksandr Usyk is already flexing his muscles as the new heavyweight champion by saying he wants to face the winner of Tyson Fury vs Deontay Wilder.

He said: “We can talk about consolidation of all the belts only after Tyson Fury (faces) Deontay Wilder, and they determine the champion, and after our re-match with Anthony (Joshua).

“Of course I would like very much to have this consolidation match because in the super heavy-weight it didn't happen for some 30 years if I'm not mistaken.

“I don't want to wait for two or three years, it's a very long time to wait.

“At the moment I have four belts, three main ones WBA, WBO, and IBF, and the fourth one IBO, which is not the main belt.

“The main forth belt has Tyson Fury at the moment.”

AJ A-OK

Deontay Wilder’s head coach Malik Scott has leapt to the defence of Anthony Joshua following his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk.

He wrote on Instagram: "If anybody sends me a message calling Anthony Joshua a bum or talking derogatorily about him because he lost to a great fighter I’m blocking you immediately! #Ficklehumans."

One of Scott's followers then responded during his Instagram Q&A, saying: "AJ is a bum."

Scott replied by saying: "At least he's a history-making bum and you're [a] piece of s**t getting blocked."

OUT OF THIS WORLD

Oleksandr Usyk has offered Elon Musk the space-inspired ring walk helmet he wore before beating Anthony Joshua as a gift.

The Ukrainian called on billionaire Musk, 50 - whose firm SpaceX launched the first all-civilian space flight earlier this month - to collect the boxing attire.

Usyk tweeted: "I’ve got a very special gift for a person who inspires me a lot!

"@elonmusk , your customized JAXET is waiting for you – a gear equipped with the latest technologies and an exclusive art piece from the new reality.

"Let’s express our respect to the superhero of the new world together and invite Elon to pick up his gift by sharing hashtag #ELONgetyourJAXETfromUSYK @elonmusk."

USYK AS A PARROT

Anthony Joshua has absolutely NO CHANCE of beating Oleksandr Usyk in their rematch, according to SunSport readers.

The British star, 31, was thoroughly outboxed by his Ukrainian rival at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Saturday night.

The Watford fighter immediately triggered his rematch clause with talks set to begin on a second fight.

But SunSport readers reckon that's a bad idea.

In fact, just 19 PER CENT of over 5,000 fans reckon AJ can win the rematch, with 81 per cent siding with Usyk.

WILDER WILDS OUT

Deontay Wilder says he just wants to beat Tyson Fury's a** when the two come face-to-face in their upcoming trilogy clash.

The heavyweight rivals are set to clash on October 9 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

Wilder told reporters at a press conference: “I just want to beat his a**. It’s as simple as that. I just want to beat his a**.”

STEP ASIDE

Tyson Fury's promoter hopes Anthony Joshua will back away from a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

Such a move would see the Gypsy King take on Usyk for the Ukrainian's heavyweight belts should he defeat Deontay Wilder in October.

Fury's promoter Bob Arum told iFL TV: "If people were sensible, Joshua would work out an agreement, if Tyson Fury is successful with Wilder, to allow Usyk to fight Tyson Fury.

"And to have each fighter contractually agree in his next fight, whether it's Usyk or Tyson Fury, again should Tyson Fury beat Wilder, to fight [Joshua].

"That's sensible, but again, this is boxing and promoters with egos and fighters not making, in my opinion, the correct decision."

GET STUCK IN

Eddie Hearn has warned that Anthony Joshua will need to hurt Usyk should the pair come face-to-face in a rematch.

Joshua lost all his titles to Usyk following the Ukrainian boxer's masterclass performance which led to the Brit's defeat on points.

Hearn told iFL TV: "This rematch, whether you think AJ can win or not, I’m telling you, it will be entirely different and write him off at your peril.

"You’ll see a different Anthony Joshua in this fight, and that’s our excitement. The disappointment of defeat and now revenge.

"We’ve been here before, and now a three-time heavyweight world champion. That’s the new dream. He’ll do his work.

"Now, I’m excited because that rematch is going to happen early next year, and if he does it, which I believe he can, he’s on a whole new level.

"This game plan is not box and move, this plan is to go in and hurt Usyk."

RANKINGS BLOW

Anthony Joshua has fallen down Ring Magazine's heavyweight rankings following his loss to Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday night.

The Brit heavyweight ace was outboxed by Usyk at Tottenham Stadium and endured a defeat on points.

And the Mirror reports Ring Magazine has Joshua dropping from No.1 contender to No.2 in the rankings.

Usyk is reported to have risen about him to first spot with American Deontay Wilder behind him in third.

WHYTE AWAITS

Dillian Whyte could be made the mandatory challenger of the winner of Tyson Fury's trilogy clash with Deontay Wilder.

It follows Anthony Joshua's loss to Oleksandr Usyk. With a rematch set to occur, it is thought it could be some time before either Joshua or Usyk may then put the titles up for an undisputed decider.

And promoter Eddie Hearn believes the WBC may take the chance to officially mandate Whyte for Fury's strap.

Hearn told iFL TV: "As long as Dillian beats Otto Wallin, then Whyte is mandatory for the winner of that fight immediately.

“There is no reason not to do it. Dillian, who 100 per cent would have wanted AJ to win, because he’s not like that.

“He now sits there as probably a cast-iron mandatory challenger to the winner of Wilder-Fury.

“The winner of Wilder-Fury will probably fight the winner of Whyte-Wallin because they will have to because the mandatory will be called."

FURY'S TOO FIERCE

Frank Warren reckons Anthony Joshua would 'not survive' in a fight with Tyson Fury.

The 69-year-old promoter admitted to being impressed by the pugilistic skills of Oleksandr Usyk.

Warren told talkSPORT: "I said to Tyson, ‘Can you imagine if you were in there with him, how long that would’ve lasted?'

"Tyson’s got as fast hands as Usyk’s got, as good a boxing brain as Usyk’s got and as good footwork as Usyk’s got. 

"But he’s a bigger puncher and he’s got a better chin."

FIGHT SITE

Eddie Hearn hopes Anthony Joshua's rematch with Oleksandr Usyk will be held on British soil.

The boxing promoter is eyeing the possibility of a February or March date for a clash between the rivals.

Hearn told iFL TV: "There will be approaches to do it elsewhere.

"(But) after Saturday, the pluses and minuses of Saturday, I mean, have you ever seen anything like that? How good was it? Have you ever seen anything like that?

“So I’d like to do it in England again. Maybe at Spurs, maybe at Wembley, maybe at the Emirates.

"They’ll be approaches to do it elsewhere but I don’t see any reason to take it outside of England."

SAVED BY THE BELL?

Eddie Hearn has brushed off suggestions that the duel between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk was ended early.

Joshua lost his heavyweight belts following a boxing masterclass by Usyk with Ukrainian dominating in the final round.

And Hearn dismissed talk that the bell was rung early.

Hearn told iFLTV: “I don’t believe it did, I saw that it did on the DAZN clock but I remember specifically the ten seconds came and it was ten seconds.

“Because I remember hearing when there was ten seconds to go, it wasn’t three seconds after the clock went so I don’t believe that was an early bell.

“One for the BBBofC not for me, but it wasn’t like ‘he is in trouble here let's ring the bell’, again it is one for the board but what I do know is he got hit by a couple of shots but it wasn’t early.”

THE JUDGED FUDGED

Michael Bisping reckons “should never judge again” if he is not able to explain his scoring for Anthony Joshua's and Oleksandr Usyk’s fight.

The ex-UFC middleweight champ disagreed with Foster's scoring of six rounds during the fight.

Foster gave the Ukrainian the win with a score of 115-113, but the judge actually had Joshua up by two after six rounds.

Bisping tweeted: “He should be held accountable for this. Explain why he scored it that way to his peers.

"No understandable reason then he should never judge again.”

TYSON TICKED OFF

Mike Tyson was reportedly unimpressed with the quality of the fight between Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Osyk.

And the legendary ex-heavyweight questioned whether either boxer would have been able to stop him in his prime.

Tyson said on Twitter: "After watching the Joshua vs Usyk fight, maybe they had a bad day that night.

"From that performance do you really think they could have beat me in my prime?"

WARREN SWIPE

Frank Warren has taken a dig at Anthony Joshua describing him as 'damaged goods' following his loss to Oleksandr Osyk on Saturday night.

Joshua lost his IBF, WBO, and WBA world heavyweight titles to his Ukrainian opponent.

Warren told the Daily Mail: "He shouldn’t go anywhere near Usyk – he will never beat him.

"In terms of fighting Tyson Fury, it can happen. Joshua losing has taken away the belts and he is damaged goods now.

"But people would still buy into that fight. It can happen and it can happen in the UK."

REMATCH RUMOUR

World Boxing Council President Mauricio Sulaiman has questioned whether Anthony Joshua would be up for a rematch with Oleksandr Usyk.

And the Council chief reckons the British heavyweight seemed demoralised by his defeat.

Sulaiman told World Boxing News: “Few gave the Ukrainian a chance to win, as he has been moving up from cruiserweight, and Joshua was considered a great champion.

“There is a contract for a rematch, but I saw a Joshua very demoralized at the end.

"It will be a matter of time to know if he will seek revenge – or not."

JOSHUA WILL GET CRACKEN

Anthony Joshua's trainer Rob McCracken expects the Brit will get his revenge on Oleksandr Osyk after the Ukrainian outboxed him in the ring.

It is thought a rematch could happen within the first quarter of 2022.

McCracken said: "Usyk is a good boxer and Anthony is still learning on the job and if he applies himself he will get the right result in the rematch.”

“There is no drawing board to go back to, you’ve got to apply pressure with your jab and your right hand and you’ve got to keep him off balance.

“And you’ve got to put shots together when you get there."

BOX CLEVER

Eddie Hearn reckons Anthony Joshua is likely to get a rematch against Oleksandr Osyk in February or March 2022.

And the high-profile promoter says will be '20 times better' in the follow-up clash although he reckons the Brit did underperform at Tottenham Stadium.

Hearn told iFL TV: “It’s frustrating because he can box 20 times better than that, and he will.

"Now the operation is revenge. That’s all that matters; that’s all he’s thinking about.

“That operation is underway. He’ll be written off [by fans]. Give him the respect for taking on Usyk. He might be pound-for-pound #1, Usyk.

“He’s certainly pound-for-pound #2. He’s got to use that to drive him, and he wants it more than ever."

SHOW MORE AGGRO

Lennox Lewis reckons Anthony Joshua will need to be more aggressive in the ring should he get the chance to avenge his loss to Oleksandr Osyk.

And the three-time heavyweight champ reckons the Ukrainian ace put on a great tactical display against Joshua.

Lewis tweeted: “For [Joshua] it’s not the end of the road, but u can’t be so tentative or wait till the 8th round to turn it on. Learn from this and improve.

“[Usyk] showed his pedigree in the ring. Amateur Champion. Olympic Gold medalist. Undisputed Cruiserweight Champion and now World Heavyweight champion.

"It pays to take the long road, put in the hard work and aggressively go after your goals.”