A decade after he first became British boxing’s golden boy at London 2012, Anthony Joshua must prove he still retains his lustre.
Joshua was severely tarnished by his defeat to Oleksandr Usyk and he has been questioned in the 11 months since. He must prove he has learned from the worst loss of his career when his gameplan of trying to outbox the superb Usyk backfired spectacularly.
Joshua has gambled by bringing in Robert Garcia as his new trainer and his strategy on Saturday night in the air-conditioned King Abdullah Sports City Arena will be to be more aggressive. Intelligent pressure is Garcia’s mantra and he wants Joshua to fight on the front foot without leaving himself exposed to the excellent counter-punching Usyk.
Joshua’s task against the Ukrainian two-weight world champion is Herculean and he must beat someone who has not lost since May 2011 as an amateur or professional. He is the underdog for the first time in his career and the pundits have been queuing up this week to write him off.
Joshua, 32 is using all this as motivation and insists he can win when so many doubt him. “My mind is right, my heart is in the right place,” he said. “I want to get my heartbeat going, I want to raise my heart rate, I want to challenge myself and I want to put punches together that will affect my opponent.
“I want to do things in the ring that will make me believe in myself. Like, yeah, this is working and give myself that competitive edge. That’s where I’m at with it. So I’m sure if I do those things, I should be victorious. And that’s just where my head’s at.”
Joshua is ignoring all the outside noise around this fight, such as his future, regaining his belts to become a three-time world champion or winning the Ring magazine belt, and is focused solely on winning. He knows those other things could become a distraction and he is just thinking about having his hand raised aloft at the end of the fight.
“That’s the key,” he said. “I know what I want to do. I put my own pressure on myself so I don’t want to add any more weight on my back when I’m going to the ring by thinking ‘I can become champion again or I can win the Ring magazine belt’.
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“If I just do what I’m just focused on and win, then all of the other stuff will come with that. In that ring, I don’t give a s**t if you’re the champion, it’s just me versus you.”
It may have taken 26 pro fights, but Joshua claims he now knows how to handle southpaws, like Usyk. He also insists he is ready for any tactics Usyk tries against him. “You have to understand if you walk a certain way, you’re walking into someone’s punch,” he said. “It’s just simple stuff, understanding angles and your ring position.
“So southpaws, I’m more comfortable in front of one. It’s going to be a good fight. Hopefully one for the history books and I’ll be victorious as well. If not, then Joshua will be consigned to the history books. I fear that will happen and Usyk will definitely win if it goes the distance and may even stop Joshua if he is careless coming forward.
