The scene is set for August 20, as Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk renew their rivalry at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah. Both fighters will be looking to score a dominant victory and potentially set up a money-spinning unification bout against Tyson Fury, who recently announced his return from retirement against Derek Chisora.
Our pick for the outright winner of the world heavyweight title showdown can be found in our detailed Usyk vs Joshua preview.
The fact that Usyk is growing in confidence in the heavyweight division could be key when it comes to the method of victory market. The Ukrainian likely would have scored the biggest stoppage of his career in the previous fight between the two if the final round had been ten seconds longer.
Red Sea Redemption 🩸 pic.twitter.com/jmpbnqsbJy
Joshua will need to fight completely differently in this rematch, which means making his size and reach advantage count. However, we just believe that Usyk has his number, and a big stoppage victory could be on the cards in Saudi Arabia.
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This looks set to be the most valuable market for the huge heavyweight showdown. As mentioned above, we can see Usyk getting the win via stoppage. The Ukrainian has typically used his speed and boxing skills to wear down opponents in previous fights, which means a similar tactic could be applied against AJ.
Therefore, value could certainly be found in the selections between rounds nine and 12. He nearly scored the late stoppage in the previous meeting, but we could see a tenth-round stoppage this time, just as was the case when Usyk beat Marco Huck in September 2017.
The fact that we are siding with a tenth-round stoppage for Usyk means that we will be wagering under eleven rounds in this market. The odds for Joshua also show that if the Brit is going to regain his titles, then it is likely to come via stoppage before the eleventh round. It could be a solid fall-back betting selection.
Woke up, chose violence 🫵🏾 pic.twitter.com/Cgr40rKTzn
This could be a solid betting alternative away from round betting for the huge heavyweight showdown. We like the chances of Usyk scoring the late stoppage, and the +900 odds for rounds 9-12 looks extremely good value.
Winning a heavyweight title fight within 60 seconds is a rarity, with Mike Tyson’s win over Marvis Frazier in 1986 being one of the quickest in 30 seconds. We can’t see either fighter scoring a win in this market, but if we had to choose one, we would side with AJ, who will be looking to come out quicker than the reigning champion and assert his dominance from the first bell.
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