Anthony Joshua believes Oleksandr Usyk may not feel "big enough" with the Ukrainian expected to have piled on the pounds.
Joshua is seeking his redemption as he attempts to regain his unified world titles when he faces Usyk on Saturday night at the Jeddah Super Dome in Saudi Arabia. 'AJ' had a significant size advantage over his rival in terms of reach and height, standing three inches taller than his rival at 6'6".
The British heavyweight tipped the scales at a light 240lb for the first fight and was over a stone heavier than Usyk who weighed in at a career-heaviest 221lb. However Usyk has been showing a much larger frame during images of his final preparations, and many inside the sport have predicted he has put on up to 14lb in weight.
However Joshua believes Usyk may have decided to put on more weight as a tactic to increase his punch power ahead of the sequel. "Listen that is a lot of weight," Joshua told iFL TV when asked about Usyk having put on up to 15kg in weight ahead of the rematch. "For me if I was to put that weight on, I would say it is because I feel I am not big enough at a certain weight.
"A second reason would be I feel I can punch harder if I can add this weight on and I feel that I would be able to manoeuvre the other guy around a bit better because last time I fought at heavyweight I didn't feel strong enough. But it may not be intentional. You just spend time in the boxing gym and you don't spend much time in the weight room, so they are probably right it is just naturally happening."
This would likely significantly close the size discrepancy in terms of weight, although it is understood Joshua could also elect to come in heavier in a bid to increase his own power. Usyk remained coy when questioned about his weight during yesterday's press conference, calling for people to "wait and see" at Friday's weigh-in.
Do you think Anthony Joshua can get his revenge over Oleksandr Usyk? Let us know in the comments section below
Matchroom Boxing promoter Eddie Hearn agrees with Joshua's assessment of his opponent's weight and believes Usyk could be looking to add some strength to his skillset. “I think he came in about 100kg last time, so we’re talking about 10kg more," he told talkSPORT. "I think he looks a little bit fleshy in the pictures I saw yesterday, a bigger heavyweight.
“I don’t know if that’s intentional, sometimes you’re just moulded into the heavyweight division and sometimes you’re intentionally putting on weight to fight a different style of fight. If you want to be quick you want to be as light as possible, but if you want to stand your ground and push someone back, you want to have that little bit more strength and weight, so maybe he’s doing that.”
