Anthony Joshua has changed trainers, tactics and physique ahead of his rematch with Oleksandr Usyk but promoter Frank Warren still believes he has one big flaw that will let him down.

In the first fight between Usyk and Joshua, the Ukrainian put on a boxing masterclass to win by unanimous decision and claim the unified WBA, WBO and IBF heavyweight titles.

Joshua was widely criticised following the loss for his game plan of trying to out-box one of the most technically gifted fighters in the world.

In the rematch, ‘AJ’ insists that he will be changing tacks and using his size and strength advantages to go for the knockout and from recent pictures posted to his Instagram it seems he is packing on the muscle in preparation.

Joshua has also switched out his long-time trainer, Rob McCracken, and replaced him with the dynamic duo of Angel Fernandez and Robert Garcia.

Despite these changes, Frank Warren, who promotes Joshua’s fiercest rival Tyson Fury, is unconvinced that the Brit will be able to get the job done in the rematch.


“I’ve seen all these pictures and photographs of how big Anthony’s got and he’s got a new trainer, so good luck to him, I hope he wins.” Warren told SecondsOut.

“But, I just think Usyk’s got his number and whatever is gonna be is gonna be.

“The big worry is you can train and train and do all of these sorts of things, you can build your body up, but one thing you can’t do is you can’t put muscles on chins.”

This is in reference to the fact that Joshua is often criticised for his lack of punch resistance, stemming from his first fight with Andy Ruiz Jr when the Brit was knocked down four times on his his way to a stoppage defeat.

With that being said, this criticism is relatively unfounded given that Joshua has only been stopped once in 26 professional bouts and outside of the Ruiz Jr fight he has only ever been dropped by Wladimir Klitschko.

This is the heavyweight division, where every fighter has the power to knock their opponent out at any moment and when that is considered, it could be said that ‘AJ’ is actually fairly robust.

https://talksport.com/sport/boxing/1...leksandr-usyk/