Eddie Hearn Remembers the Usyk – Joshua Rematch: "After 9 Rounds, I Believed"

Matchroom Boxing head Eddie Hearn looked back on the bout between his fighter, former champion Anthony Joshua (28-4, 25 KOs), and the holder of the WBA, WBC, WBO, and IBO heavyweight titles, Oleksandr Usyk (23-0, 14 KOs).

"Let’s note that right now, Usyk is clearly the favorite in any potential trilogies with Fury and Joshua. In the first fight, we couldn’t keep up the necessary pace, but in the second one, we really made a good attempt. After nine rounds, I believed we would win. But Usyk, perhaps, delivered the best championship-round performance I’ve ever seen—that’s the 10th, 11th, and 12th rounds in his fight with AJ.

I thought he was spent, but Usyk found something within himself and finished incredibly strong. He landed a lot of punches, kept moving forward against AJ, even though he was drained and exhausted. In those final three rounds, Usyk won the fight, so I honestly don’t know if anyone out there can beat him," Hearn said.

The rematch between Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua took place in August 2022 and ended with the Ukrainian winning by split decision.