August 25, (THEWILL) – World heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua has revealed details of his preparations for the September 25 bout that puts his belts on the line against mandatory challenger Oleksandr Oleksandrovych Usyk, the Ukrainian.
Although Usyk is the mandatory challenger for the World Boxing Organisation (WBO) belt only, the stakes in the fight are as high as they can ever be because all three of Joshua’s heavyweights belts, including the World Boxing Association (WBA) and International Boxing Federation (IBF) titles, will be on the line in the make or mar fight.
Recently, THEWILL reported that Usyk’s camp were getting ready for Joshua by incorporating Congolese heavyweight boxer Martin Bakole, whom they brought in as a Joshua lookalike to be the Ukrainian’s sparring partner and assist in sharpening the Usyk’s sparring skills to take on the Brit.
On his own part, Joshua’s camp have focused on good movement and skills in resilience as they acknowledged that Joshua was getting set to face a unique opponent. This has led to Joshua dedicating some time to mentally train himself to avoid the frustration of having to track Usyk down in the ring and pummel him.
The 31-year-old confirmed that another aspect of his preparation was readying himself to throw several punches at a time instead of singular shots due to the nature of Usyk’s movements. He was also concentrating on the strength of his mental focus to keep him at maximum level for 12 full rounds, if it comes to that.
All of these were necessary to tailor Joshua’s training specifically for this fight, even to the point of losing some body weight with the knowledge that it was not the greatest idea to come into this specific fight too muscle-bound only to end up quickly fatigued and find it difficult to counter.
Joshua said, “It’s a fight for the brain. Knowing what you’ve got in front of you and knowing how to deal with it. You can either be aggressive, corner [him], throw everything at it. Or take your time, be clever, then knock [him] out.
“I’m looking trim for this fight. I’m fighting a guy who is a 12-round fighter. So it would be silly of me to go in there bulky with my muscles screaming for oxygen. I’ve been training like a 15-round fighter in this camp. I will be well-conditioned to fight. That is key.”
As the countdown to the bout begins in earnest, with about a month to the date, Joshua has lined up some adequate sparring to continue to prepare him for Usyk, a southpaw, with one notion: Sparring fighters who are faster than him will best get him acclimated to what he can expect to face in their September 25 fight.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
