Usyk leaves Ukraine and prepares for revenge against Joshua 0:23
(CNN) --
He's been billed as the "Fury in the Red Sea," but both fighters appear to be relatively cool about stepping into the ring and fighting each other one more time.
Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua will meet for the second time in just under a year on Saturday night when they fight in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"My soul belongs to the Lord and my body and my honor to my country," says Oleksandr Usyk, a boxing champion after joining the Ukrainian defense battalion
Usyk outpointed Joshua in September of last year in their first fight, defeating the British boxer by unanimous decision and reclaiming Joshua's WBA (Super), IBF, WBO and IBO heavyweight titles.
Joshua's side shortly thereafter triggered the contracted rematch clause, meaning the pair will once again take center stage in heavyweight boxing's latest main event.
The end of the road?
Despite being arguably the biggest name in boxing, Joshua's career has been interspersed with surprising results.
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Saturday's rematch will be the 32-year-old's 12th straight world heavyweight title bout.
He has beaten numerous top boxers along the way: Wladimir Klitschko, Joseph Parker and Alexander Povetkin to name a few.
Usyk and Joshua at a press conference before their fight.
But in between those big-name wins — often impressive — are some surprise losses.
First off, Andy Ruiz Jr. stunned him in New York in 2019 after getting knocked down multiple times before the referee called off the fight, ending his spell as the unified heavyweight champion;
he beat Ruiz months later in Saudi Arabia to regain that title.
And in his first fight with Usyk at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the 2012 Olympic gold medalist was vastly outclassed by the Ukrainian from start to finish, as Usyk left the English capital as the unified heavyweight champion and with his reputation as one of the best boxers.
Such was the loss that British boxers Carl Froch and Kell Brook suggested another loss to Usyk could spell the end of Joshua's career.
However, Joshua said before Saturday's rematch that even if he loses, it won't be the end of his time in the ring.
"It's up to me at the end of the day, it's not up to anybody else what I do with my career," Joshua said.
"I don't have to do this. Why am I doing this? It's because it's all I know."
Joshua participates in a public training in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
"This is also my 12th consecutive world title fight. I've been to back-to-back world title fights 12 times. It happens, if you're fighting world-class people, you meet world-class people. I'm not fighting people who They are below average."
And Joshua said he has learned a lot from the previous meeting between the two.
"I feel like one of my main strengths is that I'm a quick learner, I'm a sponge," he said at the final news conference.
"But ultimately, on top of all the learning, it's a fight. That's it. Whoever throws the most punches and lands the most punches wins."
fighting for more
When Usyk steps into the ring on Saturday, he will have more than just title belts and money for inspiration.
After Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, the 35-year-old traveled back to his homeland, took up arms and joined a territorial defense battalion in Kyiv, spending weeks helping out in the war.
However, in March, Usyk was granted permission to return to training to prepare for the Joshua fight, although he expressed reluctance.
"I really didn't want to leave our country, I didn't want to leave our city," Usyk said.
"I went to the hospital where the soldiers were wounded and recovering from the war. They were asking me to go, to fight, to fight for the country, to fight for their pride and if I went it would even help our country more," he said.
"I know a lot of my close people, friends, close friends, are right now on the front lines and fighting. What I'm doing right now is supporting them, and with this fight, I want to bring them some kind of joy between what they do. ".
And now, months later, a muscular Usyk looks in excellent shape and in excellent spirits, bursting into a Ukrainian independence song after a pre-fight press conference dressed in traditional Cossack clothing.
On the eve of the fight, Usyk said that competing at the highest level is what drives him, as well as providing hope and inspiration to those back home.
"We were born to compete; for life, for belts, for anything," Usyk said through translator and K2 Promotions president Alexander Krassyuk at Wednesday's press conference.
“He who does not compete, he does not live.
Our whole lives are competitions;
for anything, for something, for someone.
That's why we're competing."
Usyk participates in a public training in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Improving your reputation
Saturday's card has been praised as it will host Saudi Arabia's first professional women's boxing match when Crystal Garcia Nova takes on Ramla Ali.
In a country where women's rights are severely restricted, it has been seen as a landmark moment for women's sport there.
However, it contrasts sharply with incidents of mistreatment of women in Saudi Arabia, including the recent imprisonment of Leeds University doctoral student Salma al-Shehab, who was recently sentenced to 34 years behind bars for writing. publications critical of the regime on social networks.
Amnesty International has called for al-Shehab's sentence to be overturned.
The event has generally been criticized for being part of Saudi Arabia's ongoing process of
sportswashing
, a term used to describe corrupt or authoritarian regimes that use sports and sporting events to cleanse their image internationally.
Saudi Arabia has been accused of using
sportswashing
in recent years to divert attention from the country's dismal human rights record.
Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, was named in a US intelligence report as responsible for approving the operation that led to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, although he has denied involvement.
Human rights groups have also criticized the country for carrying out mass executions and its treatment of homosexuals.
Asked if the rematch against Usyk in Saudi Arabia was the country's latest attempt at
sportswashing
, Joshua said, "I don't know what that is."
"The world is in a bad place, I can't single out one place. If you want to single out Saudi Arabia, let's single out all of them. We all have to do better, and that's where my heart is. The whole world has to do better if it wants to." change," he added.
