Joe Joyce believes Oleksandr Usyk is steps ahead of Anthony Joshua after winning their opening encounter.
Joshua will have a second attempt at beating Usyk on August 20 at the Jeddah Super Dome in Saudi Arabia. He will be looking to regain his unified heavyweight world titles after being outpointed by the Ukrainian last year in the UK.
'AJ' will have a line of fighters waiting to challenge for his titles if he progresses beyond Usyk at the second time of asking including WBO leading contender Joyce. And the 'Juggernaut' believes Joshua began boxing on the back-foot after turning over as a professional from their days as Olympians.
"Unless Joshua can really change his style and also become an offensive fighter again," Joyce said when assessing Joshua's chances of beating Usyk in an interview with Sky Sports. "When we were on the GB squad I always used to like going to toe to toe with him, that used to be fun. But then all of a sudden he was kind of bit more [on the] back foot.
"[Against Usyk] he seemed very tidy in his technique and his footwork and everything. But he was trying to outbox Usyk. Maybe it was Usyk that was keeping him away. But he seemed very clinical. He could have roughed him up a bit more inside and took a few chances with pot shots.
"[Usyk] already knew what to do in the first fight, he went straight to work. So this fight he's already beaten him. So he knows exactly what to do again. He's probably three, four moves ahead of him. So it's a tough one." Joshua worked alongside Joyce when he made his remarkable rise to becoming an Olympic gold medalist at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
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He has since gone on to become two-time heavyweight champion, but faces a period of uncertainty after losing his titles for a second time last year. 'AJ' will bid for revenge for the second time in his career after outboxing Ruiz Jr in their rematch back in 2019, but he will face a sizeable task having been dominated for large periods of his first fight with Usyk.
A win for Joshua could see him in pole position to finally settle his long-term rivalry with Tyson Fury who currently holds the only other remaining heavyweight title. And Joshua is willing to use a future British battle to motivate him for the second clash with Usyk.
"If Fury was in the boxing arena, was to come out of retirement and honour the gentleman's agreement, there's a lot of money to be made," Joshua said. First and foremost, I have a pound-for-pound fighter on my list in Usyk, who's a tough competitor for sure. People say I only focus on what's in front of me, which is a good way to be, but also I want to look at the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow."
