Bob Arum believes Oleksandr Usyk will emerge victorious against Anthony Joshua once again, saying he’s favouring the Ukrainian to win ‘quite a bit.’
Usyk and Joshua face-off for a second time on Saturday, with the latter hoping to win back the WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight belts his Ukrainian opponent took off him back in September 2021.
Plenty are backing Joshua to get the job done this time around, including Dillian Whyte and Derek Chisora, however, Arum believes Usyk will get the job done in Jeddah.
Arum added that he believed Usyk would beat Joshua when they first met, claiming he didn’t think the Brit would have anything in his locker to get the better of Usyk.
“They’re heavyweights so anything can happen in a heavyweight fight, but all things being equal I favour Usyk by quite a bit,” Arum told talkSPORT.
“But again, it’s heavyweight. Joshua has a very good punch, Usyk can get caught like anyone else.
“Nothing is definitive when two heavyweights get in a ring together.”
“I don’t bet on fights because for me I think it would be inappropriate but I always believed Usyk would beat him,” Arum added.
“Usyk is a tremendous athlete, very, very smart. He’s well trained and he’s a lefty and I thought Joshua didn’t have anything with which to beat him.
“I liked Usyk in the fight and I’m not just talking in retrospect.”
Tyson Fury’s co-promoter isn’t necessarily buying the ‘Gypsy King’s’ latest claims that he’s officially done with boxing.
Arum added that he believes Fury will come out of retirement before taking on the winner of Usyk vs Joshua too, saying the unification bout could take place as soon as December.
“The amount of money involved in the unification fights I cannot conceive Tyson Fury walking away from that kind of pile of greenbacks as we call it,” Arum said.
“I think that we will have a grand unification fight, maybe the first quarter of next year or maybe even some time in December.”
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