TONIGHT at the spectacular Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in north London, 70,000 spectators will gather in defiance of Covid to watch one of the most intriguing heavyweight match-ups in some time.

Ukraine’s undefeated Oleksandr Usyk could well prove Anthony Joshua’s toughest test, given the former’s phenomenal technical skills and ring IQ. The determining factor will be the role that Joshua’s significant advantage in reach and size impacts on the proceedings, with most boxing commentators and writers making AJ favourite going in precisely because of his size advantage.

This writer disagrees. Joshua, for me, has never been the same since being stopped by Andy Ruiz Jr at Madison Square Garden in 2019. Supremely conditioned athlete that he is, he is vulnerable, and in his last two fights – against Ruiz Jr in the rematch, followed by Kubrat Pulev – he fought like a man who knows it.

AJ is a global icon at this juncture in his career and a great advertisement for the sport. That he is selling out stadia and has done for the past few years is reflective of the promotional machine behind him and the extraordinary job that Eddie Hearn, Matchroom and Sky have done with him since he turned pro after taking gold at the London Olympics in 2012. It also bears testament to the power of social media in the modern era, which Hearn has done a supremely effective job of utilising.

Despite this, the hard truth is that despite the excitement generated by today’s crop of live heavyweights, the division is historically weak compared to previous eras. AJ, Fury and certainly Deontay Wilder would come unstuck against a prime Larry Holmes, Riddick Bowe, Evander Holyfield, Lennox Lewis et al. 

At least in my view.

Moving up from a cruiserweight division he dominated as undisputed, Usyk will be looking to follow in the footsteps of Holyfield and David Haye in doing so and becoming world champion. The Ukrainian hasn’t looked particularly devastating in his first two outings at heavyweight, it has to be said — the weight difference telling in his inability to impose himself on Chazz Witherspoon and Derek Chisora the way he did at cruiserweight.

What he may lack in power at heavyweight, though, Usyk compensates for with pace and intensity. Tony Bellew can vouch for this, having faced the Ukrainian in his last fight before retiring. He revealed afterwards that Usyk never gives you a chance to regroup, that he’s always in your face forcing you to work when you don’t want to.

AJ’s weakness is his propensity for mentally switching off in fights, which if the fight goes into the later rounds will be a danger that his coach Rob McCracken will have been drilling into him, especially with the inordinate concentration Usyk brings to his work.

Regardless, AJ deserves enormous credit for taking this mandatory for his WBO strap. Usyk is the archetypal banana skin and a southpaw to boot. That he decided to face the undefeated Ukrainian after the collapse of the previously scheduled Fury fight – due to Wilder bringing a successful legal action vis-a-vis triggering his Fury rematch clause – confirms that for AJ legacy is just as important, if not more important, than money at this stage.

The evidence that he’s has taken this fight with inordinate seriousness is that he’s coming in significantly leaner than he has for any other opponent hitherto. His decision to base his camp for this fight at his old amateur boxing gym in Finchley, eschewing the state-of-the-art facilities at Sheffield’s English Institute of Sport, his normal home, also suggests a man who has relished stripping everything back to the basics with a return to his roots.

Another important factor in this fight will be how each man responds to performing in front of 70,000 people after such a prolonged period of fighting behind closed doors due to Covid. The ability to do so without getting overexcited or involved with the occasion comes down to mental strength and discipline. This being said, both men have emitted an aura of confidence and calm during fight week that makes it unlikely that either will buckle when entering what will be a cauldron of noise tonight. 

All in all, this fight has all the makings of a chess match, wherein it will be the small things that make the difference in terms of the small adjustments that each fighter makes to counter those that the other makes throughout.

On the undercard Callum Smith makes his first appearance after losing to Canelo Alvarez in December last year, moving up to light heavyweight from super middleweight, which has been a long time coming given his height and frame. 

He’s also coming back under a new trainer in Buddy McGirt, parting company with long-time trainer Joe Gallagher in July. It will thus be intriguing to see what, if any, improvements Smith has made under McGirt’s tutelage, and how he adjusts to the move up to what is a stacked division at present. Smith in interviews has made clear that the switch had been in the works for some time – inferring that his relationship with Gallagher had turned sour – and that it’s given him a new lease of life.

Tonight in north London, stadium boxing returns with the proverbial bang. It’s a beautiful thing.