Dillian Whyte says Anthony Joshua needs to show the same aggression he displayed against him to defeat Oleksandr Usyk.
Whyte and Joshua fought in 2015 where the 32-year-old defeated Whyte. If Joshua uses similar tactics in his rematch with the Ukrainian on Saturday, Whyte believes he can get a similar result.
“It’s a massive fight, the biggest fight of his career,” Whyte told Sky Sports. “I do expect him to bounce back, he’s a British fighter like me and I only support our own, so I do hope he gets the job done.
“I can understand that [rediscovering his aggressive side], because I’m of the same mindset as well. It’s good for me if he wins as well. I think it’s the right mindset he needs going into the fight, it’s the only way he wins the fight.
“When we fought, we fought twice, both fights we had there was a lot of aggression between me and him in the fight, that’s the difference between fighting me and fighting Usyk, that aggression wasn’t there.
“He was sort of trying to outbox someone who has been boxing for 25 - 30 years. I believe if he revisits that aggression he had for me he does a much better job and probably beats Usyk and knocks him out this time.”
Joshua has said similar things in the lead up to the fight, saying in the first fight he tried to outbox his opponent but now he is coming with aggression.
There is a lot on the upcoming bout with former boxer Carl Froch believing if Joshua loses he may have to retire.
“If Anthony Joshua loses his rematch to Oleksandr Usyk and it’s a bad defeat - a conclusive points loss or a heavy knockout - it could be the end for AJ,” Froch wrote in his BBC Sport column. “I just don’t see where he can go after back-to-back defeats.”
