Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua are fully official for Saturday’s rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, and for all the talk about his size and weight, Usyk came in at basically the exact same weight he did last year.
WBA/IBF/WBO titleholder Usyk (19-0, 13 KO) weighed in at 221½. A year ago, he weighed 221¼. His body is different now, but he’s not actually heavier than before. This may really scuttle some predictions and assumptions about how he’d fight here.
Joshua (24-2, 22 KO) weighed in at 244½, or four-and-a-half lbs heavier than he was in Sept. 2021.
The two engaged in a long, intense stare down, but they’re both genuine professionals, so there was no shoving or trash talk or whatever.
“Your expectations are not met every time,” Usyk said of his weight, via an interpreter. He had little else to add about the fight or stare down.
“For me, face offs don’t mean nothing. It’s about the bell ringing. Face offs don’t win fights,” Joshua said of the face-to-face. “All this stuff doesn’t matter, it’s just about the weight. All this stuff don’t matter to me — weight, face offs, none of it matters to me, I’m just looking forward to the fight.
“I’m just ready for 12 rounds; 100 percent ready for 12 rounds, anything less than that is a bonus.
In the “co-feature,” IBF heavyweight eliminator between Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang is good to go. Hrgovic tipped the scales at 242¾, while Zhang weighed in at 277. Both weighs are right in line with the usual for the fighters.
Callum Smith and Mathieu Bauderlique are set for their WBC eliminator at light heavyweight, too. Former super middleweight titlist Smith (28-1, 20 KO) weighed in at 174¾, with current European champ Bauderlique at 174½, both under the 175 lb limit. Just to note, Bauderlique’s European title is not on the line.
