Oleksandr Usyk of Ukraine celebrates after he beat Anthony Joshua of Britain to retain his world heavyweight title Sunday at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. NBC news Hassan Ammar / AP
Brent Brookhouse, CBS Sports
Were there any doubt that Oleksandr Usyk were truly the better man when he defeated Anthony Joshua in their first meeting, the Ukrainian erased them on Saturday in Saudi Arabia. Usyk won the rematch to remain WBO, WBA and IBF heavyweight champion inside the Jeddah Superdome after 12 hard-fought rounds by split decision in a fight where there was truly no doubt he deserved to be named the victor.
Joshua showed that he had made some real adjustments since their September 2021 clash, fighting in a lower stance and not falling into Usyk's traps in the opening rounds. That made it difficult for Usyk to truly get rolling early as he maintained his constant lateral movement, but without the same offensive openings presenting themselves as they had in the first meeting.
Usyk began to switch up his gameplan beginning in Round 4 as he began to figure out the approach Joshua was taking. Rather than allow Joshua to lead the fight and apply pressure, Usyk began to circle more and fire off combinations with the intention to touch Joshua more than hurt him with any one shot. In response to Usyk's adjustment, Joshua began to fall into the same traps as the first meeting, chasing Usyk and missing wildly at times.
It wasn't all smooth sailing for Usyk, however, as Joshua made a big adjustment of his own, focusing his offense on Usyk's body. A steady diet of hooks and uppercuts to the torso slowed Usyk's movement and opened up the head.
Read more: cbssports.com
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