Carl Frampton believes Anthony Joshua has to visit the archives to come up with the right game plan to beat Oleksandr Usyk.
The former two-weight world champion, from Belfast, has waded in on the debate of the return between the two Olympic gold medallists in less than a fortnight’s time.
Frampton was the IBF and WBA featherweight champion and also held the WBA super-featherweight crown during a glittering pro career which he called time on back in April 2021.
And he’s predicting an early finish on August 20 at the Jeddah Superdome in Saudi Arabia, exclusively live on Sky Sports in the UK, one way or the other.
‘The Jackal’ told Sky Sports:
“I think that because of what AJ’s going to have to do in the fight and he was exhausted at the end of the last fight and he was hurting at the end of the last fight as well, I think if he doesn’t get rid of Usyk, I think then he probably gets stopped late himself.
“I hope I’m wrong.”
Joshua was dethroned by former undisputed cruiserweight king Usyk at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London last September and Frampton went on to say that strength could well be the key to Britain’s golden goose becoming a three-time global ruler.
Frampton continued:
“We know what Joshua has to do to try and beat Usyk – use his size and strength and be a bit of a bully.
“He needs to do it in spurts and I think when he does have a round where he uses a lot of energy, he has to take the next round off at times. That’s just because of the size of him really, and his build and his make-up.
“He has to use roughhouse tactics and impose his strength. A bit like [Wladimir] Klitschko used to be able to do, hit people, push them down and just tire them out. But it’s whether he can do that or not.”
Joshua’s rise to the top of the sport arguably picked up its most momentum after the April 2017 victory over the aforementioned Klitschko at Wembley Stadium.
And although some have said Joshua will be able to exact revenge in the money-spinner in the desert, billed as ‘Rage On The Red Sea’, Frampton is unsure whether that will eventually turn out to be the case.
“You put a gun to my head [to make a prediction], I’m saying Usyk wins the fight. But I don’t think it’s going to be as easy as a lot of people do.”