Oleksandr Usyk has doubled down on his offer to help Anthony Joshua prepare for his potential clash with Tyson Fury.
Joshua lost to the Ukrainian star for the second consecutive time after being narrowly outpointed in Saudi Arabia last month. It was expected he would return to the drawing board and begin his rebuild by fighting a top-15 ranked contender, but he was offered an immediate title WBC title shot by long-term rival Tyson Fury.
The British star has now accepted Fury's latest offer and a contract will be issued to AJ's team for the fight to take place on December 3 at the Principality Stadium. And despite returning home to Ukraine, Usyk believes he is the man who can help Joshua defeat Fury and first made the training offer last week.
"If he needs my help, I will go to his camp and help him," he told Sky Sports. "He is not 40 years old, he is 33, so he should keep working – Anthony, don't stop. I understand that he wanted to win against me, but Anthony can't give up. He must go forward."
His manager Alex Krassyuk has now confirmed his fighter's proposal to return to the UK and aid Joshua, adding: "He said if needed he might come and give him a couple of [pieces of] advice." Joshua has had several changes to his training camp in recent months having replaced long-term trainer Rob McCracken with Robert Garcia for his second meeting with Usyk.
Despite showing improvements under Garcia's stewardship, Joshua was still unable to find a way past the dominant style of Usyk who cruised to victory again to retain his unified world title belts. It is not the first time that Joshua has been offered to be trained by a rival, after Fury made an offer to enter his rival's camp for the second meeting with the Ukrainian.
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It remains to be seen if Usyk will actually enter Joshua's camp given he is taking time away from the sport to spend with his family in Ukraine as the war with Russian rumbles on. The Ukrainian called for an undisputed title clash against Fury of his own after another win against Joshua, but the fight has been delayed until next year with the 'Gypsy King' now wanting to face his domestic rival in December.
Joshua's promoter Eddie Hearn delivered an update on the status of a fight instead between Fury and Joshua. “It’s not what we expected," he said. Coming off the Usyk defeat, I felt AJ would come back an easier fight in December and maybe one in the spring, and then Dillian Whyte and Wilder. But this is the fight that AJ’s wanted for so long. AJ is the boss. He’s the guy who makes the decisions, and he says ‘I may never get the chance again'."
