AJ MUST LEARN TO MAYWEATHER THE FURY STORM

Joshua’s been working on the Tyson uppercut, the Holmes jab, the Shavers power-game and the Holyfield parry... but idol Floyd gave him tips on hitting and not getting hit in readiness for superfight

LONG after Kubrat Pulev and the ring had been dismantled, Anthony Joshua remained locked in his dressing room because of the presence of one man.

Floyd Mayweather Jr had dropped in to support his pal and their chat in the concrete bowels of the SSE Arena, Wembley, turned into an impromptu tactics talk.

Joshua, still wearing his boxing shorts, absorbed everything from Mayweather during their hour together in what was effectively his first training session for Tyson Fury.

Even boxing heroes have boxing heroes and Joshua is in awe of the self-styled GOAT not just for what he achieved in the ring, but how he did d it.

Mayweather was the master of hitting without being hit and Joshua will need d those skil ls against Fury ( punching Deontay tay Wilder, right) who ho can be as elusive as a stealth fighter.

It was Joshua’s latest lesson and he has spent his year out of the ring, cherry picking the best bits from various great fighters, like a boxing magpie.

“Floyd’s retired and is a great inspiration to the boxing community,” said Joshua. “It was great to have him in the house even if his bling was blinding me from certain angles during the fight!

“I’ve learned from everyone. I enjoyed the uppercut tonight, that was in honour of Mike Tyson. I have been working on the Larry Holmes jab, the Earnie Shavers power, the Evander Holyfield parry.

“I take inspiration from a lot of the greats. Boxing is a serious business and you have to indulge yourself in the greats, who have come before you, to be great.”

Promoter Eddie Hearn claimed it was fascinating watching Joshua download Mayweather’s vast boxing knowledge (the two fighters, right and inset). “AJ was bleeding information out of him,” he said. “They were talking about slipping jabs, using elbows in a clinch, it just went on and on. AJ is like a sponge. Any information he can draw out of people, he loves it. He saw that conversation as so valuable.”

Joshua, 31, did what he had to do against Pulev to defend his WBA Super, p IBF and WBO heavyweight titles, finishing the Bulgarian with a showreel overhand right. He showed discipline, fighting behind his jab, and successfully mixed it up with some destructive overhand rights and uppercuts. He hurt Pulev in the third with an overhand right and referee Deon Dwarte bizarrely gave him a standing eight count in his corner instead of waving the contest off because he turned his back on Joshua.

Joshua floored the IBF mandatory challenger with his new favourite shot, the uppercut, and somehow he survived until the bell. Joshua sensibly stepped back because he saw Pulev was not ready to go, although some at ringside, like Dillian Whyte, criticised him for not going in for the kill.

The champ has learned about the dangers of jumping in prematurely from his defeat to Andy Ruiz Jr and bided his time until the ninth when he clinically finished off Pulev.

He put him down a second time with a combination of uppercuts before knocking him out with a sledgehammer right for a spectacular finish.

“That was my first fight in over a year,” added Joshua. “I shook off a lot of ring rust and would like to go again soon.

“You may talk about the road to being undisputed, but I’m calling it the road to whoever is next, and I’m just knocking them off one by one.”

Boxing is a serious business and you have to indulge yourself in the greats from the past to be great yourself