Anthony Joshua admits he can’t blow away Oleksandr Usyk in Saturday's rematch because he’s no Mike Tyson.
Joshua was criticised after losing his world heavyweight titles to Usyk because he did not use his superior strength and power to hurt him. The two-time world heavyweight champ says his gameplan was to box Usyk because he is not like revered KO king Tyson, even though 22 of his 24 wins have been inside the distance.
Joshua's admission is worrying and he has hinted he will try to use the same tactics against Usyk, even though this could again play into the hands of the more skilful Ukrainian. “I don’t think I hurt him in the first fight, but I didn’t try to,” said Joshua. “It may sound crazy, but the objective was never to land damaging shots, it was to land scoring punches - pap, pap, pap, the art of boxing.
“Look at football, Floyd Mayweather is the Messi or Ronaldo of boxing, not everyone can be like Mike Tyson. Mike Tyson was sent from heaven to grace us with his boxing talent. Mike is a unique specimen. I can learn from him, but I cannot ever be anything like Mike Tyson. He was a separate case in my opinion.
“I know it will be a much tougher fight this time. In my heart, I definitely want to throw punches to hurt him, but I’m not Mike Tyson. I’m the taller man, with the longer reach, so I’m going to use those elements.” Joshua, 32, claims it has been “a nightmare” brooding on that loss for the last 11 months and he has reacted by replacing head coach Rob McCracken with Robert Garcia.
He says the second pro loss of his 26-fight career was just a bump along the road and insists he has the mentality to bounce back and regain the WBA Super, IBF and WBO titles a second time in Jeddah. “It’s been a nightmare just sitting on the loss,” said Joshua, who has been training in Saudi Arabia since July 17 for this career-defining fight.
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“I consider my record an ‘iron-chin record’ because it’s hard to destroy. I have a good record so even when I lose you have to look back at everything I have achieved in the past. I remember being in the changing room afterwards and I was telling everyone ‘come on, what the f**k?, we go again, we’re warriors. We lost a fight, but we won’t lose the war’.
“This is an ongoing battle and losing a fight along the way should not dishearten you. It’s not over until it’s over and that’s sort of how I motivated my team. I always predicted that I would be the sort of fighter, who had to suffer defeats and go down this route, because of the challenges I take. It’s been the same since I lost as an amateur. If I had taken those losses to heart, I would never have got here today. I have to keep that mentality.”
