Anthony Joshua has been the challenger before, but he has always been the star attraction. This week in Jeddah, he is not only fulfilling the role of underdog as he attempts to regain his WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles from Oleksandr Usyk, but he seems somewhat in the Ukrainian’s shadow.
On his previous trip to Saudi Arabia, in 2019, when Joshua avenged his defeat by Andy Ruiz Jr, Joshua was still very much the centre of attention. The Ruiz loss was seen as a blip, a mistake, a wake-up call.