Joshua before rematch with Oleksandr Usyk
Anthony Joshua has said he wants to build on his power and size advantage over Oleksandr Usyk when the two meet in a rematch in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August.
Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs), 32, will attempt to regain his World Boxing Association (WBA), International Boxing Federation (IBF) and World Boxing Organization (WBO) heavyweight titles when he faces Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs), 35, on August 20. Neither has competed since Usyk’s unanimous decision victory over Joshua at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in September.
Despite earning a comfortable victory, Usyk suffered a deep cut over his right eye at the end of that fight, which Joshua seemed to enjoy inflicting.
“His [Usyk’s] hairstyle is different, and he has a scar over his eye,” Joshua said at a press conference on Wednesday.
“I was remembering, I cut some people’s faces – Paul Butlin, Usyk, I split [Kubrat] Pulev’s lip.
“I only scraped [Andy] Ruiz, he doesn’t count because I mean breaking faces properly. I like that stuff, I never had a style, I just adapted.
“One of my strengths was my power, but I always wanted to go that route of being a clean boxer, ‘hit and don’t get hit,’ especially if I want to have a long and successful career.”
“You have to have a good defense, but I got away from the fierce side of boxing, where I knew I could hit and stun people. And I miss the days where I was cutting people’s faces off and hurting them, for sure. So I’m looking forward to getting back to that.”
The rematch in August will be Joshua’s 12th world title fight since he first became heavyweight champion in 2016 with a win over Charles Martin. However, it will be the first without trainer Robert McCracken, from whom Joshua parted ways after the loss to Usyk in September.
McCracken oversaw Joshua’s training as an amateur and helped him win Olympic boxing gold at London 2012 before continuing to guide him when he entered the professional ranks soon after. Instead, the Brit will be trained by Robert Garcia for the rematch with Usyk.
“As far as Rob not being in camp, that’s fine. No problem,” Joshua said. “Boxing is boxing…I needed a different environment at the time, so it’s fine, no problem. I knew what I wanted to do. I wasn’t forced, it was my own decision.”
Joshua said he believed he was beating Usyk during their first fight in September, which Usyk won unanimously according to the judges’ scores.
“I swear I thought I was winning the fight, I thought I looked like Muhammad Ali,” Joshua said.
“Throughout the fight, I thought I was winning, but at the time I knew it was close. I thought I was good in the fight at that point, because there didn’t seem to be any real communication about where I was at, like, ‘You’re losing this fight…you’re down by two rounds.’ I didn’t understand that.
“I don’t blame anybody for saying that, but I didn’t get the impression that I was losing the fight. I thought we were good on that. That’s why, when they announced the name, I said, ‘Huh?
‘ It was all ‘that’s it, move on.’ So I was just humping and humping and humping. It was hard to accept it afterwards. Now, when I look back at it, I think he won by three rounds, probably starting in the ninth.”
