Dillian Whyte was confident that his amateur rival, Anthony Joshua, would stop Oleksandr Usyk in seven rounds of action last Saturday night at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The opposite happened, as Uysk won a dominant twelve round unanimous decision to capture the WBA, IBO, WBO, IBF heavyweight titles.

Usyk was able to outland and outbox the bigger man. He stunned Joshua with punches in the early going and badly damaged his right eye by the ninth round. In the closing seconds of the twelfth, Joshua found himself in trouble as Usyk let his hands go.

Joshua plans to exercise an immediate rematch clause, with the second contest targeted for the first quarter of 2022.

Whyte expected Joshua to let his hands go and impose all of his physical advantages - but none of that happened. 

“I was surprised with how the fight went because I thought Joshua would get it done inside seven rounds because he would enforce his size and bulk on Usyk but he was very reserved and tentative, it was weird," Whyte told IFL TV.

“Usyk was a lot more aggressive because Joshua allowed him to be, whenever Joshua stung him he stood in front of him and let his hands go and Joshua let him do it. Joshua was hurting him but backing up so it has baffled me a bit, it was a bizarre performance. Joshua is a strange guy, he’s a proper f------- weirdo, he should have been putting the heat on him. After eight rounds he should have felt like he was down on the cards and started really having a go, he’s the unified heavyweight champion of the world.

“He needs to throw his hands. Joshua’s mentality has to change, lately he is in a safety-first mode, he is fighting weird. It’s good he is using more athleticism and boxing responsibly but being a big strong guy is what has worked for him, got him an Olympic gold medal and world titles so he just needs to have a f------ go. He was not hungry enough because when the chips are down and sh!t is against you, you have to have a go. And he did not want to have a go. He never tried to finish him off when he hurt him, it was madness.”