Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk rematch verdict given by Brit’s protege Lawrence Okolie

Tyson Fury ‘absolutely wounded’ by Anthony Joshua’s loss to Oleksandr Usyk

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Anthony Joshua can bounce back in his rematch against Oleksandr Usyk, according to the British fighter’s young protege. Joshua, 31, suffered the second professional defeat of his career when he was outboxed by the Ukrainian at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last month, losing his WBA, IBF, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles in the process.

The defeat scuppers any hopes Joshua had of finally landing his much anticipated bout with Tyson Fury any time soon, but he will have the opportunity for revenge after it emerged his contract with Usyk included a rematch clause.

Joshua has been adamant it’s a clause he will soon trigger, despite the likes of Ricky Hatton and Deontay Wilder publicly saying they expect a second bout to end in another win for Usyk, 34.

However, not everyone is doubting the comeback credentials of ‘AJ’ – who successfully avenged his only previous defeat by beating Andy Ruiz Jr back in December 2019.

Lawrence Okolie meanwhile, enjoyed a better night than his mentor in London, knocking out Montenegrin fighter Dilan Prasovic to retain his WBO cruiserweight crown.

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The fact the 28-year-old’s fight was billed as the main support bout for his close friend ensured most of the 66,000 plus crowd were in their seats to see it, and although his night was then tainted by his fellow British fighter’s loss, Okolie has backed his decision to take a rematch.

“It’s the way it should be. You get an opportunity to box for the heavyweight world titles,” he told SunSport. 

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‘The Sauce’ took his own pro-record to 17-0 with his win over Prasovic, and said he understood the difficulties of Joshua trying to maintain elite standards fight after fight.

“At the end of the day, this is world class sport. World class athletes against world class athletes. It’s hard to stay beating everyone convincingly, I get it, but obviously I would’ve liked to have seen him win.”

Okolie is a growing force in the sport but acknowledges he doesn’t yet boast the pulling power to headline main events. Becoming as big a draw as Joshua, and subsequently selling out arenas, is an obvious goal.

“But I think that takes a level of consistency to get done, you have to defend your titles, build and pay your dues fully.

“I’ve paid a lot of dues, but to get to that level you have to pay a few more.”

Okolie is now looking to unify the cruiserweight division following his first successful defence of his world title.

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