Sky Sports Expert Matthew Macklin was in Jeddah for the Usyk-Joshua 2 balance and voiced his opinion on the views of the two boxers.
When talking to Social boxing‘Mack the Knife’ says:
“I think Usyk looks really confident. He’s a joker, isn’t he? So he’s always smiling and laughing no matter what.
He’s a character, he’s a comedian, really, sometimes.
I think he’s expecting Joshua to come quickly, and he’ll know it’s going to be an uphill fight. He looks really confident, but this is a proper fight. You can go any way.”
Macklin notes that between the two, Joshua looks more nervous, however, he’s quick to point out that nerves aren’t necessarily a bad thing at this stage.
“I think Joshua looks a little more nervous than usual – I think that’s a good thing.
I think last time he was too inactive, maybe not as focused as he should be walking in the ring and before the game.
Nerves are a good thing [but] you don’t want the nerves to overwhelm you. Some nerves are good because they make you sharp, they make your reactions faster, [and] they push you to perform to the best of your ability. “
The TV analyst was also asked if he thought Joshua would retire if he lost again.
“It is impossible to say in advance because it depends only on how to defeat.
If it’s a split decision or a really tight fight over points, they’ll probably do it again. If it’s an absolute hunt and they’re both already on deck and it stops in six hours, they can do it again.
Obviously if he gets hit all-out and gets defeated and stops it’s a different situation. You don’t know how he will feel, and the manner of the defeat will be an important factor.
He won’t even entertain with that thought right now and no one on his team will. They only saw one thing and that was victory for Anthony Joshua.
