Anthony Joshua is deep in camp with Derrick James ahead of his rematch with fellow Brit DIllian Whyte and sparring partner, Jerimiah Milton, reckons Joshua will show “something new, something a lot more honed in.”
This is Joshua’s second camp with coach James, who also has Ryan Garcia, Jermell Charlo and Errol Spence Jnr in the same stable. The fight with Whyte is now less than a month away on August 12 at London’s O2 and it is a must-win for both men.
Joshua will be hoping to get back to his explosive best after back-to-back title defeats to Oleksandr Usyk and a tame points victory over Jermaine Franklin back in April.
As part of his preparations, he has been sparring with 10-0 heavyweight prospect Jerimiah Milton, who explained to Boxing News which punch he thinks Joshua needs to unleash on Whyte.
“Uppercuts. Plenty of uppercuts.”
It was of course an uppercut with ended the pair’s first professional fight back in December 2015.
“[This] fight might be the one to spark AJ. That’s a real rivalry. They have that huge beef over there man, that’s not play beef. Maybe that turns him back into the animal we need to see, sticking his tongue out, being wild. That Joshua right there was stirred about people trying to bash him. Now he’s a bit more cerebral about things. But yeh he don’t like Dillian.”
Milton went on to give further insight into the current camp and the former champion’s mindset.
“A few performances that don’t equate to everybody’s opinions of you don’t mean jack. Keep working on what you’re working on. Keep learning that new stuff, and then it comes second nature. His second fight with Derrick James is coming up. I think you’ll see something new, something a lot more honed in.”
In what is a cruical fight for both men if they have future championship dreams, Joshua himself must remain weary of what’s coming back from White, as he outlined recently.
