Anthony Joshua says he must do more and something different against Oleksandr Usyk if he is to regain his world heavyweight titles on August 20.
The British heavyweight came face to face once again with the new champion at the second press conference in London yesterday with just over seven weeks until fight night.
Speaking to a section of the media after the presser the former champion was asked if his mindset was the same now as it was before his rematch against Andy Ruiz Jr in December 2019. That night in Diriyah Joshua became a two-time heavyweight champion avenging his shock defeat six months earlier.
“To a degree. I’ve got to come back again, do more than what I did the first time and do something different.”
Boxing Social’s Andi Purewal told Joshua he had noticed him observing the footage from the first fight before the press conference began which prompted some shadow boxing from the 32-year-old. So, what goes through his mind when he watches those clips from the loss to Usyk last year?
“The adrenaline starts pumping, reality starts kicking in, this is what we’re aiming for. You leave training camp, and it opens your eyes to what we’re working towards.”
“That’s why I started shadow boxing and [I] say [to myself] if this was the ring walk now how would I be dealing with it?”
AJ’s promoter Eddie Hearn says that Joshua has realised the fighting style he tried to implement first time around was not the right way to beat the Ukrainian.
In a wide-ranging interview with Boxing Social Hearn said:
“By his own admissions he went in there, last time to try and box Oleksandr Usyk. He’s done that now and realised it was a bad move.”
“So, he’s got to adapt and got to change, and he will. He’s got the arsenal to win this fight. He’s just got to put it into play, listen to Robert [Garcia], execute the game plan and I believe he will be victorious.”