Joshua gave a much more spirited effort than in their first bout and after rocking Usyk badly in the ninth seemed on the verge of regaining the championship for a third reign.
However, the Pride of Ukraine wasn't about to allow that to happen as Usyk immediately grabbed control in the tenth round as he hurt Joshua and swept the final three rounds on my scorecard for a 116-112 win.
I thought the fight was close entering the final round and had Joshua won that round, I might have understood a scorecard of a draw but I was surprised to see a 115-113 score for Joshua that was overruled by the two judges giving Usyk the edge at 115-113 and 116-112.
While this fight was far more entertaining than the first affair, I don't think we need a third fight for a while in a similar matter to Deontay Wilder's great attempt in losing his third fight to Tyson Fury.
It was a good fight but Joshua needs to reestablish himself and move on (for now) as Deontay Wilder is doing as well.
Joshua stated that he will be back in the ring in December, which is a good thing to be more active, and while I still think there is lots of money in a Joshua-Wilder clash, I'm dubious of that happening.
After all, if Al Haymon and Eddie Hearn couldn't get this done for the unified heavyweight championship for all of those dollars so close, why should I expect them to agree for smaller, although sizable paydays as contenders?
As for Usyk, the logical next fight would be the unification bout with WBC champion Tyson Fury, who waffles back and forth on his future as most people flip the cool side of the pillow in order to grab attention but is unlikely to turn away the big bucks for a Usyk fight.
I'll say this and I respect the talent and ability of Tyson Fury but I'll be rooting for Oleksandr Usyk in that one for a few reasons- most of which are personal preferences of mine.
Usyk is entertaining yet not clownish and doesn't need the constant attention, it would be a wonderful thing that his home country of Ukraine could use right now, and I would like to move away a bit from the hulking heavyweights that have come into vogue over the last decade or two.
It's an intriguing fight that Fury will be favored in but I still remember that Steve Cunningham knockdown against Fury and Cunningham was a natural cruiserweight as well.
Fury will be the firm favorite and deservedly so with his advantages but this is the first time that he will be facing a fighter with more skills and more experience- Sleep on the chances of Oleksandr Usyk at your own betting peril.
The undercard was very entertaining with two fights that were very close and a former world champion scoring a devastating knockout.
Filip Hrgovic held off the attack of the surprising Zhilei Zhang and became the mandatory challenger in the IBF for Oleksandr Usyk with a close unanimous decision victory.
Zhang scored a flash knockdown in the first round, which made the difference on my card as I thought Zhang earned the nod by a 114-113 score.
The judges disagreed with all scoring for Hrgrovic by scores of 115-112 (x2) and 114-113.
Both fighters were hurt during the fight with Hrgrovic wobbling around the ring in the seventh round and he was fortunate that the round ended when it did.
Hrgovic was cut in the third from the scalp from a headbutt and Zhang ended the fight with heavy bruises and marks around both of his eyes.
Both fighters had their excellent moments and neither fighter could fully keep command of the fight as each landed their share of power punches.
Hrgovic showed some vulnerabilities that he hadn't in the past and Zhang redeemed himself a bit for his lackluster draw with Jerry Forrest in his previous test against better heavyweights.
A fun twelve-rounder and while I'm not sure either is ready for a title shot, the pair meshed for a tight and exciting co-feature.
Former WBA and WBC super middleweight champion Callum Smith moved to the top contender spot in the WBC ratings with a spectacular fourth-round knockout of Mathieu Bauderlique.
Smith lost the first two rounds on my card but in the third began to reach the Frenchman with long right hands.
Smith landed a left early in the fourth round that caused Bauderlique to use his glove to keep him off the floor, which is a knockdown, and shortly after rising, Bauderlique moved into full retreat and attempted to fend off Smith but ate a left hook that sent him to the mat and the fight ended before a count.
Smith is now in a position to eventually challenge WBC/IBF and WBO light heavyweight champion Artur Beterbiev sometime in 2023 after Beterbiev's WBO mandatory is fulfilled against Great Britain's Anthony Yarde.
Former WBC super middleweight champion Badou Jack won a split decision over formerly undefeated Richard Rivers in an excellent cruiserweight action fight that will be remembered for more than only the action.
The first was the crazy eighth round which lasted for a minute longer than it should have and Jack landed several punishing bombs during that minute on Rivera, which likely gave the edge to Jack for the round and took a lot of energy from Rivera during the final two rounds.
Had the round ended properly, Rivera would have likely gotten the round and the fight would have ended in a majority draw.
Both fighters gave as good as they received and the split decision for Jack was reasonable at 96-94 from two judges with the other scoring 96-94 for Rivera.
I split the difference with a 95-95 scorecard, so my major issue is with the comatose timekeeper, not the scoring.
The other memorable portion of this fight was the commitment to Rivera of his gimmick as Popeye which included wearing the character's hat and pipe during his ring introductions, using Popeye on his waistband, and quickly sliding back into the costume after the fight.
Give credit as this was an entertaining evening of boxing even if the crowd seemed like they were relatively disengaged and not very excitable despite the action.
I will be back next with the Showtime and ESPN action from the weekend as my Sunday fantasy football draft took away my writing time on Sunday.
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