Unbeaten British heavyweight Joe Joyce (14-0, 13 KOs) shared his opinion about the upcoming rematch between Ukrainian Oleksandr Usyk (19-0, 13 KOs) and his compatriot Anthony Joshua (24-2, 22 KOs), which will take place on August 20 in Saudi Arabia .
It is worth noting that Joyce and Joshua often sparred when they played together for the British Olympic team, and Joe boxed (and lost) with Usyk in the WSB semi-professional league.
“If Joshua can’t fundamentally change his style and become an attacking fighter again, he won’t be able to beat Usyk,” Joyce is convinced. – When we were both in the UK team, I always liked to kill him (in sparring), it was fun. But then he suddenly became more active on the back leg.”
“(In the first fight) Against Usyk, he looked very accurate in his technique, footwork, everything. He tried to outbox Usyk,” recalls Joe. “Maybe it was Usyk who kept him away from him, but Joshua could very well press him a little more and take risks with punches.”
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According to Joyce, the whole point is that Joshua goes on the defensive when he feels danger.
“Especially (it showed up) in the rematch with Ruiz, when he was in defensive mode on the back leg. He was kind of afraid of aggravations, because, I think, he saw the shadow of Ruiz, who puts him on the floor, says Joe. – Even Wladimir Klitschko knocked him down and after that Anthony had problems throughout this round. If Klitschko had been a more offensive fighter, he could have taken out Joshua.”
“Usyk already knew what to do (in the first fight) and therefore immediately set to work. And now he has already beaten him and again knows exactly what to do. He is perhaps three or four moves ahead of Joshua. So Anthony will be hard,” concluded Joyce.
In the meantime, Joshua opened up about how his training has changed, and also confessed why he refused to work with coach Canelo.
Source:
Sky Sports