Is Oleksandr Usyk injured heading into his heavyweight title defence against Anthony Joshua this evening?
Usyk, who has been branded the pound-for-pound number one by Eddie Hearn heading into tonight’s fight, was punch-perfect as he dethroned Anthony Joshua at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium back in September.
The Ukrainian has endured a torrid few months, with his home country under attack, with Usyk himself joining the campaign on the frontline to fend off Vladimir Putin’s crazed Russian invaders.
He was assumed to be fighting fit for this bout, though, with Usyk having been allowed more time than anticipated to get himself into shape to defend his heavyweight titles against two-time champion Joshua.
However, there has been some suggestion that Usyk has sustained an injury during sparring, with Eddie Hearn revealing that AJ attempted to drag any uncertainty into the forefront of his opponent’s mind during the face-to-face.
“It was a great head-to-head and AJ just said, ‘How’s your body?’ Usyk went, ‘What?’ And AJ said, ‘How’s the body? Are you ready?’”
“There’s been stories in sparring. If he did get hurt to the body in sparring, that will stick up there in his mind.”
We will learn tonight for certain whether Usyk is carrying any sort of injury that’ll impede him. It isn’t unusual for fighters to carry a knock into fight night, so we’re not sure that much ought to be made out of this…
