All the details you need to watch the Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk unified heavyweight world title fight
How to watch ‘AJ’ vs ‘The Cat’
BBN have provided viewers with all the details needed to tune in and watch the eagerly awaited unified world heavyweight title fight between defending unified champion Anthony Joshua (24-1, 22KOs) and WBO mandatory challenger Oleksandr Usyk (18-0, 13KOs).
Date
The bout takes place on Saturday, September 25th, which is the same day in history that visiting challenger Oliver McCall KO'd WBC World heavyweight champion Lennox Lewis in two rounds at Wembley Arena in 1994.
Venue
It takes place at the brand-new, state of the art Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in North London. It's actually a homecoming for in Matchroom Boxing because it was at their old stadium, White Hart Lane, where they staged their first ever heavyweight promotion when Frank Bruno MBE defeated Joe Bugner in October 1987.
Rounds scheduled
12 three-minute championship rounds at heavyweight.
Titles
AJ’s WBA Super, IBF, WBO and IBO World heavyweight titles are all on the line.
Ringwalks
The ring walks are expected from 10:30pm UK time, but that will depend on the undercard results.
TV Coverage
Coverage for Joshua-Usyk starts live on Sky Sports YouTube and Facebook channels at 5pm kicking off the show with Christopher Ousley vs Khasan Baysangurov for the vacant WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title.
Sky Sports Box Office (Sky channel 491) and Sky Sports Box Office HD (Sky channel 492) starts from 6pm, and will also be broadcast on DAZN in the US.
Sky Sports Box Office is also available on BT TV – tune to channel 496 or by searching for the event in the BT Player.
BOXPARK in Croydon and Wembley will be screening the fight with tickets priced at £10 (includes a drink) and are only available to purchase on the door, starting at 8pm. More info…
Live Stream
You can watch online via the Sky Sports website here: https://www.skysports.com/watch
There is one other way that you can watch if you are not a Sky TV customer, or if you are just out and about on Saturday night by simply finding a suitable pub that is showing the event by visiting pubfinder.sky.com
BBN will be providing LIVE round-by-round results on fight night HERE
Price
The pay-per-view event on Sky Sports Box Office and Sky Sports Box Office HD is priced at £24.95 for UK customers, €27.95 for Republic of Ireland customers.
Book online HERE
Tickets
Tickets for the event, priced at £40, £60, £80, £100, £150, £200, £400, £600 and £2000 (VIP), sold out within 24 hours of going on sale.
Undercard Highlights
Lawrence Okolie (16-0, 13KOs) defends WBO World cruiserweight title for the first time to Montenegro's Dilan Prasovic (15-0, 12KOs).
The 28-year-old from Hackney is unbeaten in 16 bouts and is making this maiden title defence six months on from his crowning glory over Krzysztof Glowacki (31-3, 19KOs).
Former World super-middleweight champion Callum Smith (27-1, 19KOs) returns from his sole career defeat to Canelo last December at his new weight up at light-heavy against Dominican Republic's Lenin Castillo (21-3-1, 16KOs), who is a world title contender.
Related Articles
Everything you ever need to know about Joshua-Usyk can be found HERE
Quotes
Anthony Joshua: “September 25, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, I put it all on the line again and it’s time to defend my crown. We are two Olympic Gold medallists who have fought our way to the top and never avoided challenges. The stadium is exceptional, the atmosphere will be electric, I’m honoured to be the first person to fight in such an awe inspiring venue. The stage is set and I am ready to handle business.”
Oleksandr Usyk: “The path will be mastered by the walking one.”
Background
Back in 2012, both these athletes won an Olympic Gold medal at the historic London Games.
Usyk is the only ever four-belt undisputed world cruiserweight champion in boxing history and began his assault on the Heavyweight division by retiring Chazz Witherspoon in seven rounds in Chicago in October 2019 and continued his bid to become a two-weight World Champion when he outpointed Derek Chisora over 12 rounds at The SSE Arena, Wembley last October.
The 34-year-old Ukrainian has fought in the UK twice before, stopping Tony Bellew in 2018 in a defence of his four cruiserweight crowns, then up at heavyweight against Dereck Chisora to win the WBO Inter-Continental title after a bruising 12-rounds. So it's two wins in tow against Brits in Britain do far for the Eastern European.
Joshua and Usyk debuted a month apart towards the end of 2013, but it was Usyk who secured silverware first by winning the interim WBO Inter-Continental cruiserweight title in his fith fight within a year from his pro bow. AJ secured his first title in May 2015 with a second-round stoppage of gatekeeper Kevin Johnson to claim the WBC International heavyweight belt. He added the Commonwealth title in his next fight in September 2015, but by that time, Usyk had made four defences of his WBO Inter-Continental strap.
AJ ended the year as the British heavyweight champion, then went on to beat Usyk to winning a world title by claiming the IBF belt in his next fight against defending champion Charles Martin in April 2016. Usyk caught up five months later by beating 26-0 Krzysztof Glowacki by UD to land the WBO World cruiser belt.
Joshua then was the first to become a unified world titlist with his epic 11th-round victory over Wladimir Klitschko in April 2017, a year on from first becoming a world champ, to own the WBA Super, IBF, and IBO belts. Usyk became a unified champ in January 2018 when he added the WBC belt with mixed decision win over 23-0 Mairis Briedis in the WBSS semi-final.
It was his next fight that he made history unanimously outpointed 26-0 Murat Gassiev to win all four world titles for the first time in boxing history. Joshua also did the same that year, two months later, by adding the WBO belt to take his hoard up to four world titles.
But then it all went wrong the for the Watford warrior, when he was upset in his Stateside debut by unheralded Mexican-American Andy Ruiz Jr in a surprise seventh-round stoppage at Madison Square Garden. AJ came back like a true champ to right the wrong just six months later, then didn't fight for an entire year later, due to the pandemic, when he comfortably beat ageing heavyweight Kubrat Pulev within nine rounds last December.
Now the Olympic and World boxing champions clash in an historic battle in what can be described as a real pick 'em fight.
Things you didn’t know about Anthony Joshua
20 Things you didn’t know about Oleksandr Usyk
Predictions
Tim Rickson, BBN Editor: “I genuinely believe that Usyk is the better, more skilled fighter, but he hasn't had the same effect at heavyweight that he had at cruiser, naturally, due to his size. AJ will likely be more powerful at this weight, with Usyk trying to pick him off and score the eye-catching shots. I think that Usyk will be his usual awkward, technical self, draining his opponent's energy with his feints and movement, with AJ landing a few big ones every so often but not with enough full contact to have a big effect or ever being able to put big combinations together to get the Ukrainian out of there. I expect the fight will go to the scorecards with AJ getting a close decision, with the many spectators debating the judges' scoring for a long time afterwards. Another possible outcome could even be a disappointing draw. Whatever happens, I'm expecting a technical fight, there definitely won't be a war, so don't get too excited.”
More predictions HERE
Betting Odds
5/12 Anthony Joshua
27/10 Oleksandr Usyk
25/1 Draw
Twitter Poll Results
Joshua on points: 13.8%
Joshua by KO: 44.8%
Usyk on points: 24.1%
Usyk by KO: 17.2%
Weights
Anthony Joshua: 17st 2lbs (240lbs)
Oleksandr Usyk: 15st 11lbs 4oz (221lbs)
Running Order
5pm:
Christopher Ousley vs Khasan Baysangurov
10×3 WBA Inter-Continental middleweight title
6pm:
Maxim Prodan vs Florian Marku
10×3 IBF International welterweight title
Callum Smith vs Lenin Castillo
12×3 Light-heavyweight contest
Campbell Hatton vs Sonni Martinez
4×3 Lightweight contest
Lawrence Okolie vs Dilan Prasovic
12×3 WBO World cruiserweight title
Main Event:
Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk
12×3 WBA Super, IBF, WBO, IBO World heavyweight titles
Things you didn’t know about Anthony Joshua
20 Things you didn’t know about Oleksandr Usyk
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