Anthony Joshua vs Oleksandr Usyk 2 weigh-ins LIVE: Heavyweights hit scales ahead of Saudi Arabia fight

Joshua and Usyk should take to the stage fairly shortly.

A reminder that Joshua weighed in at 240lbs for the pair’s first fight, while Usyk was 221lbs.

The Ukrainian looks to have bulked up ahead of tomorrow’s rematch; soon we’ll find out by how much.

Heavyweights Filip Hrgovic and Zhilei Zhang make their way to the stage now.

Zhang hits the scales at 277lbs – a hefty man! Hrgovic is just shy of 243lbs.

Callum Smith and Mathieu Bauderlique are out now, ahead of their light-heavyweight clash tomorrow.

Bauderlique weighs in at 174lbs, with former super-middleweight champion Smith just a few ounces heavier!

Badou Jack, now 38 years old, emerges ahead of his cruiserweight bout against Richard Rivera.

Rivera tips the scales at 194lbs, with Jack following at 199lbs.

Ben Whittaker and Petar Nosic are up first and make weight for their light-heavyweight contest. Then follow super-lightweights Ziyad Almaayouf and Jose Alatorre.

Here is a look at the full card, as we wait for the first fighters to emerge:

Oleksandr Usyk (C) vs Anthony Joshua (heavyweight)

Filip Hrgovic vs Zhilei Zhang (heavyweight)

Callum Smith vs Mathieu Bauderlique (light-heavyweight)

Ben Whittaker vs Petar Nosic (light-heavyweight)

Ramla Ali vs Crystal Garcia Nova (women’s super-bantamweight)

Badou Jack vs Richard Rivera (cruiserweight)

Andrew Tabiti vs Tyrone Spong (heavyweight)

Daniel Lapinvs Jozef Jurko (light-heavyweight)

Ziyad Almaayouf vs Jose Alatorre (super-lightweight)

The undercard weigh-ins should begin any moment now!

The selection process for Joshua’s new coach, a process that took the Briton across the pond, generated speculation and intrigue in equal measure. It became arguably the most curious narrative of the build-up to the rematch. Eventually, Robert Garcia became the newest addition to Joshua’s team, the man tasked with reversing the result of last year’s showdown in London and doing what no coach has done: finding a way past Usyk.

With Joshua’s long-time trainer Rob McCracken having stepped away from the 32-year-old’s coaching set-up, Angel Fernandez will take on a more prominent role alongside Garcia.

But make no mistake, any credit or blame for the result of Joshua’s rematch with Usyk will be placed on the shoulders of Garcia and Joshua, much more so than on those of Fernandez.

Full piece:

Eddie Hearn wanted to be candid. When asked why the biggest boxing match of the year was being held in Jeddah rather than New York, Las Vegas or London, the answer was clear.

“The problem at the moment is no one wants to be honest,” said Anthony Joshua’s longtime promoter. “I’m very comfortable, particularly in boxing, to make decisions like that. It’s a prize fight where, contractually, we have to go to the venue that ultimately creates the most amount of revenue for this fight – whether AJ likes it or not.”

A big sporting event being sold to the highest bidder is nothing new clearly, but the many critics of the staging of this fight would argue something else is at play when the eyes of the world descend on Saudi Arabia on Saturday night.

“I don’t know what that is,” Joshua said when asked whether his blockbuster world heavyweight title rematch against Oleksandr Usyk was the latest in a growing list of examples of sportswashing on the global sporting stage.

Fulll article:

Anthony Joshua and Oleksandr Usyk will be far from the jeers, cheers, bullets, death and their own dreams when the first bell sounds for their fight in Jeddah on Saturday night.

It has been nearly a year since Usyk outpointed Joshua in front of 67,000 bemused fans in north London; a lot has happened in the life and times of both since that night at Spurs.

Usyk has been armed and dangerous and praying to survive in a brutal war in his beloved Ukraine homeland. He is a national idol with a difference.

Joshua has spent 11 months searching for answers and changing his team and his mind for a fight he has to win.

Full article: