Usyk the favourite against Joshua in return match

Most of the betting sites have Oleksandr Usyk from the Ukraine as the favourite going into the return fight in defence of his WBA/WBO/IBF and IBO heavyweight belts against Anthony Joshua of Watford, England on Saturday at the at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Usyk (19-0; 13), who held the WBA ‘super’, WBC, WBO and IBF cruiserweight belts, had only two fights in the heavyweight class against Chazz Witherspoon (W rtd 7) and Derek Chisora (W pts 12) before challenging Joshua (24-2; 22) for the WBA/WBO/IBF and IBO heavyweight belts, winning on a comfortable 12-round points decision at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on 25 September last year.

The smaller and slick-moving 35-year-old Usyk was in control throughout the 12 rounds against the slow moving and sluggish 32-year-old Joshua, with the judges’ points margins not a true reflection of the fight.

This was only Joshua’s second defeat since losing his belts to Andy Ruiz on a shock seventh-round stoppage. However, in a return match with Ruiz, he regained the belts.

In the first fight against Usyk, the former champion used the wrong tactics, trying to outbox the more skilful Usyk.

Joshua, a 2012 Olympic gold medallist, has subsequently split from his long-time trainer Rob McCracken and is now trained by the former world junior lightweight champion Robert Garcia.

Usyk has recently been through a tough time since winning the belts after returning to the Ukraine and taking up arms by joining a territorial defence battalion in Kiev.

There are some critics who are of the opinion that this could have an effect on his performance.

However, he left his home country in March to prepare for this fight and will come into the ring in top physical condition.

In the main supporting bout, Croatian Filip Hrgovic meets China’s Zhilei Zhang in an IBF heavyweight title eliminator.