The American specialist reacted to scandalous rumors in the media that Usyk could allegedly deliberately lose to Joshua, since he was promised a lot of money for this.

James Ali Bashir says Usyk is not the kind of person who can sell his titles. He has no doubt that Alexander is ready to fight to the death for his country..

" I got to know him not only as a boxer, but also as a person.. And I can tell you right now that Alexander will not sell his titles.. He's not that kind of person. Oleksandr is a very proud Ukrainian, very patriotic. He won't sell titles to anyone. Usyk will fight until he is knocked out. He will fight to the death. I believe that he will be ready both mentally and physically..

Knowing Usyk over the years of cooperation with him, I would not have hoped for such information, for this seed from Usyk's camp. I think it's a way to distract Anthony Joshua.. Joshua would be a complete fool if he bought into this.. You can bet your ass that it will beat. Usyk left the war to prepare for a boxing match,"

The rematch between Usyk and Joshua is expected to take place on August 13 or 20 in Saudi Arabia. The date and venue of the fight will be announced soon..

Recall that on the night of September 26, 2021, Usyk defeated Joshua in London by unanimous decision - 117-112, 116-112 and 115-113, and won the IBF, WBO, WBA and IBO heavyweight titles. After that, the Briton activated the option of revenge, prescribed in the contract for the first fight..

The 35-year-old Usyk has 19 wins (13 by knockout) in 19 fights. He held three of them in the heavyweight division.. Before that, Alexander became the absolute world champion in the cruiserweight (weight category up to 90.7 kg), having won all four of the most prestigious belts there..

32-year-old Joshua has 24 wins (22 by knockout) and two losses. For the first time, AJ lost in June 2019 to Andy Ruiz, but in December of the same year he defeated the Mexican in a rematch and regained his titles.