ANTHONY JOSHUA has declared he is going to “smash” Oleksandr Usyk in their upcoming rematch.
The pair fought for the WBO, IBF and WBA titles last September, with Usyk’s aggressive style throwing AJ off course and allowing him to claim a points victory against the odds.
Oleksandr Usyk and Anthony Joshua face off ahead of their fight in Jeddah on Saturday
Usyk won three belts from Joshua went they fought in September
This time around though Joshua has vowed to ditch the cautious approach and “smash” his opponent when he enters the ring on Saturday.
“I wanted to outbox my opponent, whether it was Usyk or anyone else, that was the mindset (in the first fight),” Joshua told Sky Sports.
“I wanted to outbox my opponent and on Saturday I want to smash my opponent. That’s just the mindset now.”
Joshua acknowledged that much of the early success he had in his early career came down to aggression but admitted his added experience mellowed out his more gung-ho approach.
He added: “I was amateur for three and a half years and I done a lot in that time and I asked myself how?
“It wasn’t down to the skill element, because I was outclassed in terms of skill and experience by a lot of my competitors on the world scene, but that aggression.
“That will was something that couldn’t be denied. Then as you get more experience you try to develop as a rounded athlete.
“But ultimately, you can’t take your eye off the factor of what got you to where you are which is, as you said, that aggressiveness.”
Ukrainian Usyk, who left the front line of his country’s defence following Russia’s invasion to fight AJ, has bulked up massively compared to the last time the pair fought.
However, this approach is the wrong one to take for him according to Dave Coldwell, who believes the added weight will slow him down.
Coldwell thinks Uysk’s greatest weapons are his speed and mobility, but by bulking up he will be limiting their effectiveness.
